Immanuel
Waiting for Light to Come | Erik Reed
“BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL” MATTHEW 1:23 (ESV)
The God who created the world stays united to the world He created. God is other than His world, but He is in the world. Throughout the Scriptures, we see God remind His people that He is with them. God’s presence is a theme of Scripture, and it is a crucial topic for our own lives.
We learn from Genesis 3:8 that God walked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve. We do not know the specifics of how they experienced His presence with them, but we know He was with them because they hid from Him after they sinned. God visits with Abraham and Jacob in ways that they knew they had been with Him. He promises Moses and Joshua that His presence would be with them. He led them as a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. Nathan tells David to do all that is in his heart, and that God is with him. The Temple in Jerusalem marked the place of God’s constant dwelling with Israel as His presence filled the holy of holies. He spoke through the prophets about His presence with them (Isaiah 41:10).
The idea of God being with His people runs throughout the Scripture. However, how God was with His people remained shaped by their sinfulness and His holiness. Humanity could not experience the fullness of His presence. The result of mankind’s fall was a marked distance from knowing God’s presence as intimately as was possible. But the promise of Isaiah 7:14 was that the virgin would conceive and bear a son called Immanuel. Immanuel means: God with us. The coming Savior would be the embodiment of the Living God in the world, and with His people.
Our passage today strikes the chord of that promise in Isaiah. The promise to Joseph from the angel was that the child in Mary’s womb was from God. His name would be Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. He would be Immanuel, God with us. Paul emphasizes this in Colossians 2:9 when he says that in Jesus the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Jesus is a human being. But He is not a human being who became God. He is God, the Second Person of the Trinity, who became a man. And it is not a part of the deity or some of the deity that dwells bodily in Him. The fullness of deity dwells in Jesus. He is Immanuel. God came to the world.
As Jesus walked the world, the people experienced the full presence of the Living God with them. And after Jesus ascended to Heaven, believers still experience His full presence with us, through the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. In fact, before Jesus ascends to Heaven, He reminds His disciples that He is with them always. God came to us. And He is here to stay with us. Forever.
Questions for Reflection
This advent devotion, Waiting for Light to Come, was written by Erik Reed and borrowed with permission from Knowing Jesus Ministries. You can find the original publication and more information at https://www.knowingjesusministries.co
“BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL” MATTHEW 1:23 (ESV)
The God who created the world stays united to the world He created. God is other than His world, but He is in the world. Throughout the Scriptures, we see God remind His people that He is with them. God’s presence is a theme of Scripture, and it is a crucial topic for our own lives.
We learn from Genesis 3:8 that God walked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve. We do not know the specifics of how they experienced His presence with them, but we know He was with them because they hid from Him after they sinned. God visits with Abraham and Jacob in ways that they knew they had been with Him. He promises Moses and Joshua that His presence would be with them. He led them as a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. Nathan tells David to do all that is in his heart, and that God is with him. The Temple in Jerusalem marked the place of God’s constant dwelling with Israel as His presence filled the holy of holies. He spoke through the prophets about His presence with them (Isaiah 41:10).
The idea of God being with His people runs throughout the Scripture. However, how God was with His people remained shaped by their sinfulness and His holiness. Humanity could not experience the fullness of His presence. The result of mankind’s fall was a marked distance from knowing God’s presence as intimately as was possible. But the promise of Isaiah 7:14 was that the virgin would conceive and bear a son called Immanuel. Immanuel means: God with us. The coming Savior would be the embodiment of the Living God in the world, and with His people.
Our passage today strikes the chord of that promise in Isaiah. The promise to Joseph from the angel was that the child in Mary’s womb was from God. His name would be Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. He would be Immanuel, God with us. Paul emphasizes this in Colossians 2:9 when he says that in Jesus the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Jesus is a human being. But He is not a human being who became God. He is God, the Second Person of the Trinity, who became a man. And it is not a part of the deity or some of the deity that dwells bodily in Him. The fullness of deity dwells in Jesus. He is Immanuel. God came to the world.
As Jesus walked the world, the people experienced the full presence of the Living God with them. And after Jesus ascended to Heaven, believers still experience His full presence with us, through the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. In fact, before Jesus ascends to Heaven, He reminds His disciples that He is with them always. God came to us. And He is here to stay with us. Forever.
Questions for Reflection
- How does knowing God is with us bring peace and comfort in our lives?
- In what ways did Jesus’ birth change the experience forever of God being with His people? How did it differ from before Jesus’ coming?
- How is Jesus, Immanuel, with us now?
- How will He be with us for eternity?
This advent devotion, Waiting for Light to Come, was written by Erik Reed and borrowed with permission from Knowing Jesus Ministries. You can find the original publication and more information at https://www.knowingjesusministries.co
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