Immanuel: God With Us in Matthew 1:18–23
Matthew 1:18–23 answers the meaning of Immanuel by pointing to a person, not a feeling: the child conceived by the Holy Spirit, named Jesus because he saves, and called Immanuel because in him God is with us.
Matthew 1:18–25: Jesus Conceived by the Holy Spirit
Matthew tells the birth of Jesus from Joseph's side of the story: a conception that came from the Holy Spirit, a name given by an angel, and a child who is God with us. Joseph's quiet obedience frames the whole scene.
Isaiah 7:14: The Sign the Lord Gives Ahaz
Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, so the Lord gives one anyway: a child whose name means God is with us. The promise lands first on a frightened dynasty facing two invading kings, and its timing is tied to the child's earliest years.
Isaiah 7:14: The Sign God Gave Unasked
Isaiah 7:14 is a sign God gave to a king who refused to ask for one, and its wording stretches beyond Ahaz's crisis to the birth of Jesus. That is why denying the virgin birth is not a small matter of taste.