EMMANUEL – GOD WITH US. Matt 1.

    Matthew records the exciting news, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name, Emmanuel, which is translated,’ God with us.’ ( 1:24)

    Only a supernatural conception can grant a virgin, Mary, the miracle of a child, which is prophesied 700 years earlier by the prophet Isaiah.  His name grips the reader, for it is ‘Emmanuel; and means ‘The eternal God is with us.’ The longing of God’s people for ages was fulfilled when He came.  Let’s examine the promises of the bible to see that the Lord planned this marvellous incarnation ( God inhuman flesh and actually with us).  This excites the Lord’s people, and counters limited faith or brazen resistance, which prevents them accepting this wonder- and sadly, denying the joy of their Lord.

    David excitedly wrote of His Presence in Psalm 46:7, ‘ The Lord of Hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our Refuge.’ This is repeated in the final verse of the psalm, notably verse 11.  King David longed for the fulfilment of many foretellings in the Word, that one day the Lord of Hosts would appear in human flesh.  

    The royal prophet, Isaiah, spoke of Immanuel’ as the conquering One, ‘ He will pass through Judah, He will overflow and passover, He will reach up to the neck, and the stretching out of His wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel’. ) 8:8 )  But who could understand such a powerful, conquering One until Matthew’s prophecy was fulfilled.  Our christian gospel is unique, or one of a kind, for God stoops from His majesty in the heavens and becomes a baby in the womb of Mary and a suckling at her breasts.  The title ‘Emmanuel’ is intimate and dear to believers everywhere.

    The following chapter of Isaiah (7:14) is much loved ‘ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign : Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel.’  It required an angel. Gabriel,  to tell Mary to marry the unbelieving Joseph, her fiancee and that God intended to fulfil this long-established promise.  Thank God that Joseph did not put Mary away with her unexplained pregnancy, or to risk stoning on the false grounds she had been unfaithful to her expectant husband. How they must have read this beautiful word in Isaiah together and prayed thankfully that the Babe in the womb was indeed the “Emmanuel’.

    Isaiah rose to great prophetic heights  in (9:6,7) when he wrote, ‘For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given, And the government shall be on His shoulder, and His Name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.’

We thank God for the convincing One Who came 700 years later and accomplished all that glorious promise.  Year after year, ( I am now 83 ) I have come to this passage, realising that He is all that is described, ( so wonderful, counsellor for my needed wisdom, mighty God ( in my weakness ) , everlasting Father ( in a decaying world )  and my Prince of peace ) and have read my bible with joyful faith.  Tell Him He is all that to you!

    Isaiah continued his deep understanding of this mystery of His Presence,’ God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid: For Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. ( 12:2 ), resulting ‘Therefore, with joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation.’ ‘Emmanuel – God with us’ explained why Grace quietly lay, her face glowing, having had her last blood transfusion, knowing that the leukaemia would finally consume her – and she would soon be in Christ’s heavenly home.  I went to comfort her, but as she whispered, ‘My dear Lord is with me and I am lying in His embrace’ she strengthened my faith and love for my Lord.  She drew from the wells of salvation to her last breath.

    John captured this truth when he wrote, ’The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,  the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

( John1:14)  The ‘logos’ or the word, long promised in the Old Testament,  vibrantly pulsated  when the Son of God, also the son of Mary appeared on the human scene.  Only a loving God could bring all this glorious truth together with Emmanuel, lying in Mary’s arms , drinking from her bosom, learning His mother’s Hebrew and Aramaic, romping on the floor of a simple home, learning the art of hauling timber from the forest and the skill of modelling excellent tables, chairs and yokes for cattle.

    ‘Never man spoke as this Man spoke’ proved the strength of ‘ God with us’, as the Lord Jesus delivered His Sermon on the Mount, which Matthew recorded in chapters 5 to 7.  His healing of the leper, the gift of sight to the blind, the raising from the dead of an only son, daughter and brother confirmed that Emmanuel -God was really with us.      

    As  Christ rose from the dead, He gave the commission to His followers to ‘Preach the gospel, saying ‘all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.; Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.  And lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age. ( Matthew 28: 18-20 )

    The glorified Son of God assured that He would ever be with us, never leaving or forsaking us. ‘Emmanuel- God with us’ continued through His 33 years climaxing in the cross, the resurrection and would maintain His Presence with all His disciples right through these 2000 years until He came again for His beloved bride.    I first realised the wonder of His promise as a nursing orderly in our 2^nd 9^th Australian General Hospital, on the outskirts  of Alexandria Egypt in WW11.  We worked a long 12 hour roster and often sat in the slit trenches at night, with protective steel helmet and respirator strapped to our chest.  I memorised this precious truth that ‘I am with you always even to the end of the world.’ This kept me calm, quietly peaceful and resting in His faithfulness.  It still does. The truth is eternal.

    The Lord spoke to Paul in a night vision,’ Do not be afraid, but speak , and do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you. ( Acts 18:9,10 )  The immediate presence of the unchanging God would be all that Paul needed to stand firmly.

This truth has comforted every generation of believers when threatened.

    Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:18, that ‘all things are of God, Who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. ‘Our families and church members desperately  need reconciliation, so does our community and nation; and nations like Rwanda after the genocide urgently need reconciliation.   This is only possible because our Emmanuel or God is with us.

    Paul wrote to Timothy (1 Tim 3:16) that ‘The mystery of godliness is great. God was manifested in the spirit. ‘  This is the continuation truth of ‘Emmanuel- God with us.’  God was brought to light or perfectly revealed in the Person of His Son. 

    2 Timothy 4:17 ‘The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message should be fully preached through me’.  This is conclusive of God being with Paul, when He stood with Him and  poured His strength into Paul’s life. How often do we need to claim such a truth, Paul was stoned, shipwrecked, thrown out of synagogues, and hated; but lived in the Presence of his God.  

    Have you thanked God that this Emmanuel-God with us is also God with you?