Was there a virgin birth before the incarnation of Jesus?

Isaiah 7:10-17 

The sign of Immanuel

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

To be clear, there was not a virgin birth before Christ, but as Isaiah says, “virgin will give birth to a child”. That does not mean a virgin in the sense of someone who has never had relationships with a man. So, here’s what’s going on and it’s very interesting…if you look at what happens in Matthew 1, Matthew recognizes a historical pattern of events that finds quintessential fulfillment in the miraculous birth of Messiah. So, if you look at the precursor (or the type), it happens in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah’s wife gave birth to Maher-shalal-hash-baz in a fashion common to all humanity, thus though she did not give birth as a virgin. However, Mary (Jesus’s mother) most certainly did. So again, what Matthew sees is a historical pattern of events that finds quintessential fulfillment in a miraculous virgin birth with respect of Messiah.

But if you look at the historical context of Isaiah 7, you have Ahaz, he’s the Monarch of the tiny kingdom of Judah, he’s shaken because there are two super-powers on his northern flank. One is Resin of Syria the other is Pica of Israel, so these two kings these two super-powers are plotting his ruin. And so what God does is He provides a sign guaranteeing that those two Kings would come to ruin. And the way He does that is by saying that the virgin will be with child, will give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel, and before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

Of course what God promises comes to pass, Isaiah went to the prophetess, she conceived, she gave birth to a son and before the boy knew how to say “my father or my mother”, both of those super-powers Syria and Samaria were laid waste…by what happened to be the Assyrians. Well 700 years after faithless Ahaz, Matthew saw the temporary salvation of Judah as a type of the eternal salvation that God’s people would experience through Jesus Christ, who is quite literally born of a virgin. 

The Hebrew word ALMAH (virgin) found in Isaiah 7 has nothing to do with virginity, and is wholly irrelevant to the discussion, because what this has to do with is prophecy (but it is typological prophecy). Which sees historical correspondence but a heightened factor in the anti-type. So, in the type you have a birth in the normal course of how human beings give birth, in the anti-type you have an intensification which you have a literal virgin birth. 

And ultimately Isaiah knew this was bigger than the immediate fulfillment in Isaiah chapter 8.

In stark contrast, some in the Word of Faith movement have taken Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 7 and turned it on its head by proclaiming that Jesus was just a human boy (because he didn't know right and wrong) until His baptism where he was filled with the Holy Spirit...They also claim that because of this, we have the same power at our infilling of the Holy Spirit. You see, purveyors of the Word of Faith lower Jesus to elevate the power of the 'Holy Spirit' within themselves, but in actuality… they are elevating themselves because they preach a different Jesus, and a different holy spirit...And this one of the reasons that makes their cultic movement so dangerous.

Now we don't know the circumstances of Jesus becoming self-aware that He was Theanthropos (the God-man) because the Bible is somewhat silent in that respect...but we do know that the Bible is very clear that Jesus was/is FULLY God and fully man and we also know that He amazed the religious leaders in the temple at age 12.

In conclusion, let us remind ourselves Jesus is God (and we are not), He came into this world because of His love for us and to reconciled the world to Himself...He died a sinners death on the cross and on the third day He rose again and is now seated at the right hand of the Father  - and has promised us that He will return again a second time.

And we look forward with joy, to the restoration of all things.