Advent Season
(Anticipating the Birth of Jesus)
28 Names of Jesus | December 24, 2020
Name #22: “Emmanuel: God with Us” (Isaiah 7:14)
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
Picture the Garden of Eden. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden; the first people were in the presence of God, talking with Him. That relationship ended when Adam and Eve sinned. From then on, God communicated with some of the Israelites but reserved most of His communication for the high priest in the temple, and that could be a frightening encounter. The Israelites must have felt like God was far away.
Then, in about 732 BC, as a sign that God was with the tribe of Judah, the prophet Isaiah tells King Ahaz that a child named Immanuel — meaning ”God is with us” — will be born (Isaiah 7:14). That prophecy, the promise that God would defeat Judah’s enemies and preserve Jerusalem, was fulfilled within a couple of years (Isaiah 8:8 – 10). But the prophecy held a much greater promise: It gave a promise of a coming savior. This coming savior is talked about by all the prophets; the prophet Micah even tells people to expect Immanuel to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
Devout Hebrews who studied the Scriptures for hundreds of years must have been wondering when this promised savior was coming. They anticipated a savior who was not just someone like God, but this savior was to be God Himself! (I John 5:20).
The long-awaited event happened when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and the Gospel of Matthew reminds us of the prophecy of Emmanuel (which is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew name Immanuel). “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
When Jesus came to Earth, people could walk and talk with God again. Although, after dying for our sins and resurrecting, Jesus returned to His heavenly home, today God can still be with us — but even closer than with us. If we know Jesus as our savior, then, God is in us (Ephesians 3:17; I John 4:16). Through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives permanently in the hearts of believers today (I Corinthians 6:19).
With the Holy Spirit is us, we can experience the fellowship of Jesus in even more real and powerful ways than His disciples did when they were physically with him!
This Christmas, as we celebrate God with us — “Emmanuel” — do you know the presence of God all-year-round? As Jesus promised:
“And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Have a Happy Christmas,
Andy Nordquist