Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Ver. 23. Behold, a virgin, &c.] העלמה, that Virgin, κατ εξοχην, that famous Virgin foretold, Isaiah 7:14. That he should be the seed of the woman was made known to Adam; but not of what nation till Abraham, nor of what tribe till Jacob, nor of what sex till David, nor whether born of a Virgin till Isaiah. Thus by degrees was that great mystery of godliness revealed to mankind. If any Jew object, saith Chrysostom, how could a Virgin bring forth Dic ei, quomodo peperit sterilis et vetula? Ask him, how could Sarah, when old and barren, bear a child? The bees have young, yet know not marriage. The Phoenix, they say, hath no parents. This headstone of the corner was cut out of the mountain without hands; Dan 2:34 this flower of the field, this rose of Sharon, Son 2:1 hath Heaven for his father, and earth for his mother. Was it not as easy to frame this second Adam in the womb, as that first Adam out of the mire? Herein see a miracle of mercy, that the incomprehensible God, that circle (whose centre is everywhere, whose circumference nowhere), should be circled and cooped up for nine months together in the narrow womb of a pure Virgin.
And shall bring forth a Son] Who in the birth opened the womb, Luke 2:21,22, and so put her to pain likely, as other women. He hid the glory of his eternal nativity under a mean and temporary birth to purchase for us a heavenly and eternal birth. Whether the blessed Virgin were Deipara, the Mother of God, raised great storms in the Council of Ephesus, and came to commotions in the secular part, and excommunications among the Bishops-inasmuch as the Emperor declared both sides heretics, -but forasmuch as she brought forth a Son that was God, we doubt not to style her the Mother of God; not Moll, God's maid, as one hath lately slandered some of us in print. At Rome (it is said) was seen, at the same time, about the sun, the likeness of a woman carrying a child in her arms: and a voice heard, Pan, the great god, is now about to be born, &c.
And they shall call his name Immanuel, &c.] By a wonderful and unsearchable union: the manner whereof is to be believed, not discussed; admired, not pried into: personal it is, yet not of persons: of natures, and yet not natural. As a soul and body are one man; so God and man are one person, saith Athanasius. And as every believer that is born of God, saith another, remains the same entire person that he was before, receiving nevertheless into him a divine nature which before he had not; so Immanuel, continuing the same perfect person which he had been from eternity, assumeth nevertheless a human nature which before he had not, to be born within his person for ever. This is so much the more wonderful, because the very angels (which are far greater in glory than man) are not able to abide the presence of God,Isaiah 6:2. But this is our ladder of ascension to God, John 3:13. Faith first lays hold upon Christ as a man; and thereby, as by a mean, makes way to God, and embraceth the Godhead, which is of itself a consuming fire. And whereas sin is a partition wall of our own making, denying us access, Ephesians 2:14; God is now with us: and in Christ "we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." Christ's humanity serves as a screen to save us from those everlasting burnings; and as a conduit to derive upon us from the Godhead all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, Ephesians 1:3 : if any Assyrian invade us, we may cry, as they of old, "The stretching out of his wings doth fill thy land, O Immanuel," Isaiah 8:8, and we shall have help.