Behold

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14   (KJV)

What an astounding “Behold” that was.   Virgins do not conceive, and the scripture does not tell how the virgin would conceive.  The other astounding part of this “Behold” was the name she was to call him, “Immanuel.”   “Immanuel” meant “God with us” to Israel, so they were being assured that their God, Jehovah, was with them and would be with them.  They would not be swept away.  No matter what the struggle, even if it were as a mighty river, Israel would be preserved.   

Centuries later several more “beholds” would not only shed light on this passage of scripture, they would announce the actual appearance of this Emmanuel child.  First, a young woman, a virgin, was espoused but not yet married, so a child was not to be expected.  She was visited by an angel that gave her a startling message from God.  We find it in Luke 1:28-31, “And the angel come in unto her, and said, ‘Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.’  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.  And the angel said unto her, ‘ Fear not, Mary:  for thou hast found favor with God.  And, “behold,” thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest:  and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David.’”  Mary explained the impossibility of this because she “knew not a man.”  The angel explained that the Holy Ghost would come over her and cause the conception.  Wow, what a thing for a young teenage girl to hear.  She kept this conversation secret for a while.

Mary’s husband-to-be was concerned about this unexpected pregnancy but wasn’t sure what he should do when he got a surprise visit from an angel.   Matthew 1:20-21 relates this conversation, “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:  for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:  for he shall save his people from their sins.’”   Okay, now we have two quite amazed people.

We have one more “behold” to discover.  This one occurred months later and was given to individuals who had no connection at all to Mary and Joseph.  This “behold’ was given to a group of shepherds.  They, too, were surprised as an angel appeared to them out in the fields.  Luke 2:10-11 relates the report:  “And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David, A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’”   

Three “beholds,” one to a young girl, one to a perplexed husband-to-be, and one to anonymous shepherds that announced the arrival of the Savior of the World.  There is never been a more important announcement than this, and it was given to relatively unknown and “unimportant” people.  I believe that this indicates that our Savior, Jesus Chist, came to serve and to save.  He will come later to reign.  Behold, the King is coming.  What a great “behold” that will be.