The prophet Isaiah announced that a specific virgin will give to birth to Immanuel,
“Then Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ‘Ask a sign for yourself from Yahweh your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, and I will not test Yahweh!’ Then he said, ‘Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey in order that He will know to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken. Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days which have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah—the king of Assyria!’” Isaiah 7:10-17 Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)
According to Matthew, this was fulfilled when the blessed Mother of our Lord conceived and gave birth to Christ as a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit:
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the One who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” Matthew 1:18-23 LSB
Luke also confirms that Mary miraculously conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit:
“And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of His kingdom.’ But Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.’” Luke 1:30-35 LSB
Needless to say, Jesus’ virginal conception and birth are a sign in the fullest sense of the term, since this is a miracle that transcends the depth of Sheol and the heights of heaven!
Not surprisingly rabbinic Judaism disagrees, and in so doing the rabbis have had a difficult time explaining who this child was or what was the exact nature of the sign.
One specific rabbi, on the other hand, seemed to have come very close to the Christian interpretation of Isaiah’s prophecy.
The following exposition of Isaiah’s prophecy is attributed to Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, otherwise known as “Rashi” (1040–1105 AD):
“Behold the almah shall conceive and bare a son and shall call his name Immanuel. This means that our Creator shall be with us. And this is the sign: the one who will conceive is a girl (na’arah), who never in her life has had intercourse with any man. Upon this one shall the Holy Spirit have power.” – (Rashi, Mikraot Gedolot – as cited in The Prophet Isaiah, written by the Hebrew Christian Victor Buksbazen, and published by The Spearhead Press, Collingswood, NJ, 1971, p. 150)
Astonishingly, Rashi seemingly admitted that this is a prophecy of a virgin miraculously conceiving a son!
Some, however, claim that the above is a mistranslation of Rashi’s words. As such, I cite a rabbinic translation of Rashi’s interpretation of Isaiah 7:14:
14Therefore, the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign; behold, the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.
the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign: He will give you a sign by Himself, against Your will.
is with child: THIS IS ACTUALLY THE FUTURE, as we find concerning Manoah’s wife, that the angel said to her (Judges 13:3): “And you shall conceive and bear a son,” and it is written, “Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son.”
the young woman: My wife will conceive this year. This was the fourth year of Ahaz.
and she shall call his name: Divine inspiration will rest upon her.
Immanuel: [lit. God is with us. That is] to say that our Rock shall be with us, and this is the sign, for she is a young girl, and she never prophesied, yet in this instance, Divine inspiration shall rest upon her. This is what is stated below (8:3): “And I was intimate with the prophetess, etc.,” and we do not find a prophet’s wife called a prophetess unless she prophesied. Some interpret this as being said about Hezekiah, BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, because, when you count his years, you find that Hezekiah was born nine years before his father’s reign. And some interpret that this is the sign, that she was a young girl AND INCAPABLE OF GIVING BIRTH. (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/15938/showrashi/true#v14; see also https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Isaiah.7.14?lang=bi; bold capitalized emphasis mine)
Note how Rashi acknowledges that this prophecy cannot possibly be about Hezekiah, and therefore seeks to identify the child as the one whom the prophetess bore to Isaiah. Also notice how this renowned rabbi admits that there were some Jewish authorities that viewed this text as a prediction of a young girl having a son who, otherwise, was unable to conceive.
In other words, these Jewish interpreters are acknowledging that the sign that God promised to give is that of a young maiden miraculously conceiving and giving birth to a male Child!
It, therefore, seems that the translation of Rashi’s words by Victor Buksbazen wasn’t as wrong as some anti-Christian rabbinic polemicists would have us believe.
In fact, a particular anti-Christian rabbinic website indirectly acknowledges that “Divine inspiration” can also be rendered as “spirit of prophecy”:
What does Rashi in Mikroas Gadolos really say there? Here is my translation of it:
EMMANUEL: That is to say, our Rock will be with us. And this is the sign, that behold she is a young girl and never prophesied in all her days, and in this there will rest a spirit of prophecy on her…. (Judaism’s Answer, Dr. David Stern and what Rashi says on Isaiah 7:14; emphasis mine)
Since prophesying is a work of the Holy Spirit, this again shows that Buksbazen wasn’t far off the mark in paraphrasing Rashi’s words as referring to the Holy Spirit coming upon this maiden to empower her.
Interestingly, Rashi wasn’t the only reputable Jewish authority who rejected the notion that Isaiah 7 refers to Hezekiah. Here’s what Ibn Ezra wrote:
Therefore the Lord himself etc. Though you do not ask a sign, He will give it you. It is to me a matter of surprise that there are those who say the prophet here refers to Jesus, since the sign was given to Ahaz, and Jesus was born many years afterwards; besides, the prophet says, For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land shall be forsaken; but the countries of Ephraim and Syria were wasted in the sixth year of Hezekiah, and it is distinctly said of whose two kings, etc. Many make THE MISTAKE OF IDENTIFYING Immanuel WITH HEZEKIAH; they cannot be the same, granting even this prophecy to have been uttered at the beginning of the reign of Ahaz; he reigned only sixteen years, and Hezekiah was at the death of Ahaz twenty-five years old. According to others, Immanuel is another son of Ahaz, and others again take the names (Immanuel, Maher Shalal and Shear Yashub) as symbolical of the kingdom; but if so, what meaning would be in the child’s knowing good and evil and in Maher Shalal calling father and mother? (8:4). I THINK that Immanuel is the son of Isaiah, as well as Maher Shalal; the latter is proved by And I went unto the prophetess, etc. (8:3). Shear Yashub is similarly related to the prophet (ver. 3); each of the three sons received a name that contained some hint at future events; Immanuel implied that God would help them and be with them during the troubles caused by the two kings; Maher Shalal, that the time for the exile of Samaria had arrived; and Shear Yashub, that the remnant of Israel would repent; this explanation is well borne out by the words, Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders. Comp. The children which the Lord hath graciously given to thy servant (Gen. 33:5). Those that in the former passage regard children as equivalent to pupils must produce us some analogy from Scripture. Isaiah himself was a sign and an example concerning Egypt (20:3).—The Gaon says that the sign consisted in the child being a male child; but in my opinion the sign was that the child was to eat butter and honey; for it is not usual that children eat these things immediately after their birth.
We know that a male child is called (na’ar) נער, a female child (na’arah) נערה or (almah) עלמה—the feminine of (elem) עֶלֶם—whether she be a virgin or not; for עלמה signifies a person of a certain age, like the masculine עלם; and in דרך גבר בעלמה the way of a man with a young woman (Prov. 30:19) עלמה is certainly not a virgin; because at the beginning of that passage it is said, which I know not (ibid. 18).
וקראת And shall call. Subject is, העלמה; comp. וחטאת And it sinneth (Ex. 5:16). (https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.7.14?lang=bi&with=Ibn%20Ezra&lang2=en; emphasis mine)
Despite his rejection of the Christian interpretation, Ibn Ezra’s uncertainty regarding the precise identity of the child or what the miraculous sign actually refers to, i.e., to the child’s gender or of his eating butter and honey, merely highlights the fact that the rabbinic authorities really did not know what to make of this prophecy. Their rejection of Jesus led the rabbis to scramble to find some particular individual who could fit the role of Immanuel, and further led them to undermine the miraculous nature of the sign that God said would be the assurance that he was truly with his people to deliver them.
FURTHER READING
A MESSIANIC SCHOLAR ON JESUS’ VIRGIN BIRTH
ISAIAH 7:1-16: IMMANUEL HAS COME!
Isaiah 7:14: Of whom does this prophecy speak?
The Virgin has Conceived and God is Now With Us!
Response To Jim Lippard’s The Fabulous Prophecies of the Messiah
Answering Islam Blog 
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