Theme: Our futile present vs. God's future presence

Exegetical Note
In its original setting, this famous prophecy was directed at a reluctant recipient, King Ahaz of Judah, and promised him, despite the seeming futility of his present political situation, a sign of eventual success over his enemies in the person of one to be born to a girl (almah) and to be named, symbolically, "God with us." The passage reflects the Old Testament pattern of prom ising future divine presence and providence to the hard-pressed, and to that extent points to Jesus a…