Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah. The thing is that the birth of a child is very easy to overlook. Only those with eyes to see it recognize the importance of what happened when Jesus was born. The birth of Jesus is a turning point of history. It’s God actually becoming one of us. It’s the arrival of the King who will set everything right. 

Have you ever had one of those days? You start out wanting to research something. For instance, you watch an episode of the Crown on Netflix, and you decide you want to learn more about something. You go on the Internet, read an article, and then find a link to another article. Before you know it you’ve read about 5 or 6 articles. You’ve spent a lot more time than you expected, but you’ve also learned a lot.

Hyperlinks are fascinating. Click on the right hyperlink and you never know where it may lead!

You may not know that there are hyperlinks in the Bible as well. I got that image from Tim Mackie, co-founder of The Bible Project — a great ministry you should know about if you don’t already.

Here’s what he means. Today’s passage is a good example. In the passage we just read, Matthew describes the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. Mary miraculously conceives a baby from the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband-to-be, has a dream in which the angel says, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

And then Matthew adds his own commentary. He gives us this hyperlink:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

(Matthew 1:22–23)

Matthew inserts a hyperlink from the birth of Jesus all the way back to Isaiah 7:14. He’s saying that you can only understand the birth of Jesus if you click on the hyperlink to an earlier passage written hundreds of years before.

So what do we learn about the birth of Jesus by clicking on this hyperlink?

Understanding Isaiah 7

Let’s go back hundreds of years to the world of Isaiah 7, which describes a very unusual story for us.

It’s 735 BC. A huge crisis is exploding on the scene. The Assyrian empire at the east end of the fertile crescent is rising. They’re the first world superpower, the new bullies in town, and they’re taking over everything.

If you were one of the kings in that area, you would be terrified. I would be too. What would you do? It would make sense to form an alliance, because maybe together you’d be able to withstand the new, brutal empire. And so the nations around Judah start to form an alliance. But there’s one holdout: King Ahaz of Judah in Jerusalem. So the coalition decides to get rid of Ahaz. Ahaz is terrified. He’s got the Assyrian empire on one side, and this coalition on the other. Two kings surrounded you. They have a technical name for that: he’s toast. Ahaz is in the crisis of his life.

Thank God that he sent a prophet to help Ahaz. His name is Isaiah, and Isaiah has a simple message: trust God. Isaiah tells Ahaz that the plans against him cannot succeed.

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