Immanuel (God with us)

Matthew 1:23

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

    and they shall call his name Immanuel”

It is Christmas Sunday, even though Christmas is almost a whole week away. A positive side of that is that we have a whole week to celebrate Christmas. I wish very merry Christmas for everybody.

To me it is almost odd that the whole world seems to take Christmas as a happy occasion. Even Muslims in the Middle East have Christmas decoration in their homes. What for? There is all the reason why the whole world should celebrate the coming of Messiah, but I wonder if they know of Christmas at all.

What about you? What is the meaning of Christmas for you? Once again, I would like to take this occasion in the light of the will of God, as announced last week. Do you like Christmas because it is supposed to be a happy season of the year? Exchanging gifts and wishing for happiness to one another? Is it the will of God that we celebrate Christmas the way as we normally do every year? Are we celebrating Christmas for God or for us? Are we not too consumed with ourselves even on Christmas? Are we celebrating the “birthday” for Jesus like we all have birthdays?  

What is the will of God that we have Christmas? If I may put it in more biblical way, what is the will of God that the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? Or if I may put it in more theological way, what is the will of God that the second person of the Trinity assumed the human nature and became like us?

I want to stress that there is the will of God that the Bible records the multiple accounts of the nativity of Jesus. We must be able to read it in the Bible. And the will of God is revealed through the name prophesied long ago on his coming, that is, Immanuel.

Immanuel literally means that God is with us in Hebrew. As the Messiah comes, he is known to us as God-with-us, that is, God is coming to be with us, or God is coming to take us to himself. I truly believe that it is the true meaning of Christmas and the will of God for us.

That God is with us is the will of God that stands out strongly throughout the Bible. What I would like to do today is to just share some of the major examples of “God with us” in the Bible. Only some! Because there are simply too many evidences in the Bible through which God remind us of the very fact!

The very first evidence is the garden of Eden. The eternal life was conditional upon Adam’s obedience. The tree of life and the tree of death (Gen. 2:9) signified the will of God that he invites Adam and his descendants to the eternal fellowship with him. The intention of God was not that humans live happily ever after in the garden. God wanted to have them near him. That is eternal life, and it was the will of God. 

The morale of being together was soon materialized through the institution of the marriage. Being alone was not good in the eyes of God (Gen. 2:18). Marriage is created to be the strongest bond on earth so that we may learn that “what God has joined together let not man separate” (Matt. 19:6). We learn what it takes to be together through the various turns of marriage. The will of God is that the marriage is kept as God’s own institution for husband and wife to be united together.

Enoch was simply a marvelous illustration in the Bible that man as a physical being actually ascended to heaven to be with God. “Enoch walked with God and he was not, for He took him” (Gen 5:24). The will of God is supported with a physical ascension of Enoch. 

Abraham stands out most in the Bible as a major figure in the history of Immanuel. God visited Abraham one night and made covenant with him that his covenant will be with Abraham and his descendants (Gen 17:4). As it turns out in the history of Israel, what God promised to Abraham was Immanuel, that is, “I will be their God and they will be my people.” It all began with Abraham.

God’s specific ways to fulfill his promise to Abraham was realized through the calling of Moses. When God called Moses who was rather reluctant and unwilling, God encouraged him by saying “I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12), and he did. The pillars of cloud and fire were the friendly reminders that God was with Israel day or night (Ex. 13:21-22). The spectacular life in wilderness for Israelites was nothing but the proof that God was with them all the time. God’s promise to Abraham was still valid with Joshua, just as God was with Moses (Joshua 1:5). Joshua had all the reasons to be strong and courageous “for your God is with you wherever you go” (1:9).

There was, however, a case in the history of Israel that God was not with. It was Saul. When Saul disobeyed God, Samuel, symbolically, did not return with Saul and never saw him again (1 Sam. 15:34-35). God was with him no more. David epitomized the opposite case that God was with. “David had success in all his doing, for the Lord was with him” (1 Sam 18:14). God secured David’s dynasty by being with him. 

That God is with his people was a long tradition of Israel, but Isiah happens to be first in the Bible who mentioned “Immanuel” (Is. 7:14). What is unique about Isiah’s prophecy is that God-with-us will actually come in person. God himself comes to materialize Immanuel by putting human nature upon himself. We often mistake in our perspective, when we say that Christ incarnated to die for our sins. That is, God died for us. Me-centered again! It hardly changes. It is true in its consequence that his death is for our salvation. He incarnated, however, to be with us for his own pleasure and glory. He did it above all for himself, when he did not have to. His own faithfulness to himself prevails so that we may in consequence have eternal life with him. God’s will for us is that we may just remember how God is with us and what he does to be with us. 

God’s will to be with us is again confirmed by Jesus before he ascended to heaven. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 the I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28: 18-20). Do you see what is the last words in the gospel of Matthew? “Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.” It is not a coincidence that this word matches with Immanuel the name of Jesus pronounced at his birth.

In fact, his promise to be with them was previously prophesied by Jesus himself, when his disciples were worried about his absence. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever” (John 14:16). It is a famous passage that Jesus himself tells them about the Holy Spirit to come. And it is to fulfill his own commitment from the beginning that he will be with them forever. Now it is the Spirit of Christ that is sent in his place so that the Lord will be with them forever.

That is exactly how the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). In fact, it was long ago prophesied by the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-32). Joel said that the Spirit of the Lord will poured upon all flesh. Do you know it was a very scandalous thing to say back then? Not just on free male adult Israelites but also on slaves, females, children, and gentiles. God’s will is that he will be with all people beyond the physical boundary of Jews. In fact, it was prophesied even before the time of Joel. Even Moses a kosher of koshers acknowledged that it is the will of God that the Spirit of God may be given to all of Israel so that they all become prophets (Num. 11:29). That is, they all are personally full of the knowledge of God through the Spirit’s present with them. 

It is clear in the Bible that it is the will of God that God wants to be with us forever. The Bible repeats it over and over again. He not only came in flesh to be with us but also sent his own Spirit to be with us forever. 

Then, what about the heaven? What does the Bible say about the heaven? “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:3). 

Isn’t it clear, now, what is the will of God from the beginning to the end in the Bible? In other words, it is clear what we have to see in the Bible? If we read the Bible from God’s point of view, we would be able to read the will of God. The will of God is that God is with us at all time that he is Immanuel.

We have Christmas this year as well. What do you celebrate Christmas for? Perhaps, what I share with you this morning, to some, is too basic and obvious. But for others it is perhaps, I pray, comforting and edifying for Christmas. There is nothing more comforting than to know Immanuel. God came to be with us. And God will be with us forever. I pray this may strengthen you even if you are perhaps at a low point of your life. Like I said last week, you are strong in your weakness. Please remember God is with you. May this Christmas be full of Immanuel for you.