Immanuel, "God with us"

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."  Isa 7:14

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”   Matt 1:23

Did you ever have one of these manger scenes growing up? Or do you have one now? The nativity scene is very recognizable, but sometimes that's all it is. 

The Christmas story seems to have become so well known that even the pagan knows it or has heard it at least. Ask anyone the question, "what happened that we remember on Christmas?" Chances are, they will spout out the fact that "well Jesus was born, duh!"  Most people know this.  "The true meaning of Christmas is that Christ came to this earth to save us."  The unfortunate thing is that though it may be common knowledge, it most certainly isn't common belief.  That is a terrible problem. Do the majority of people realize that they need to be saved and thus truly believe and have faith that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied about all over the Old Testament who has come to save us from our sins!? Or, instead, do they simply know that he came to this earth as a baby, and for all they know, maybe he just grew up and was killed because of injustice.  Here's the point, the Gospel Message is just as important in the Christmas Holiday as it is every single day of our lives.

Christmas is meant to be a reminder that Christ came, yes, but more importantly there is something far greater than the fact that this man was born. The crux of the issue, which is a matter of life and death is in the prophecy in Isaiah 7 and referenced in Matthew 1: this term "Immanuel."  Jesus came, yes, but who IS Jesus.  He is IMMANUEL, which translated means, "God with us."  Why is this the crux of the issue? It is because if Jesus were not God with us, if he were not indeed Immanuel, we would indeed NOT be saved from our sins. This term is used only 3, possibly 4 (debated) times in the whole bible. Yet the truth of it is referenced and implied more than we can count: Jesus is GOD. And because he was the God-man; God who "became flesh and dwelt among us" being fully God and fully Man, we can truly be fully saved from our sins.

See, sin cannot be in the presence of the almighty HOLY God. God's wrath, because of his righteousness, is rightfully poured out on sin (Romans 3:5-8). BUT God's righteousness has become "manifest" in the person of Jesus  Christ (Romans 3:21-26), "God with us," So that when we believe, God is justified in sparing us from his wrath against our sin because of Christ being our substitution. Only Christ, the sinless, spotless, lamb of God, God himself, could cover our sin because that is only something that God can do! I love the way my senior pastor puts it: We owed a debt that we could not pay, God stepped in and paid a debt he did not owe, so that we may be reconciled unto him forever because of having faith in Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God WITH us.

I hope this makes Christmas more meaningful for you this year. I hope you take the truth of God's word that God himself came to save sinners and tell your friends and family the true meaning behind the story they probably already know. Immanuel: God with us. Let us never gloss over this!

Hope you are having a blessed start to this Christmas season!