Immanuel, ‘God with Us’ - Matthew 1:23

[29th December 2024]  

Mt 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel” [God with us]

Today I would like to speak briefly on the promised Immanuel to be born of a virgin. This promise occurs in the very first chapter of the New Testament, and although the name Immanuel is not applied to Jesus again in New Testament, the idea of Jesus as our Immanuel, ‘God with us’, remains in the rest of the Testament.

Under the old covenant, God promised to be with Israel. Israel knew that that made her special compared to other nations. So, in Ex 33-34, after the sin of the golden calf, God threatened no longer to go with Israel, but just go before them - Moses’ was horrified. That God is with his people is a theme in the Bible and a promise for all of God’s people.

But having God ‘with them’ could be a fearsome privilege for Israel, as their holy God dealt with sin and unfaithfulness in their midst. So the most amazing thing about the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it was that no-one was killed by God as the shepherds and later the wisemen gathered around the new born baby. Because that baby, carried in Mary’s womb and laid in a manger, a common feeding trough, was God.

Jesus was ‘God-with=us’.  He was as surely God as God could be - the second Person of the Trinity. The culmination of 1,600 years of written Old Testament prophecy, worthy of a new star in the heavens.

Truly as John writes: 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. This is the ultimate act of God’s grace, his display of undeserved favour to his people. A great stooping down, a great condescension - an act of divine love towards us.

God coming down from heaven is a pledge that he will take his people up to heaven along with his resurrection and ascension - “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him” - 2 Tim 2:11.

Immanuel, our God-Man Saviour, lived and tasted the whole of human life experience: childhood, adolescence, suffering and even death and the grave which we will all experience at some stage - but he emerged victorious. This is part of our guarantee and confidence as we face life … and death itself.

And as Immanuel, Jesus takes upon himself divine honours and attributes: He forgives sins; he claims to be the new temple; he accepts worship; he has astounding authority over nature; he claims unique access to the Father; he said he knew Abraham … and so on.

Jesus is not just God, but he is also ‘God with us’, he is with you and me here this morning. This is not a prayer but a promise. So what does this mean for us?:

·      Immanuel means that God is not distant, not far away, not distant far away on the top of a smoking mountain, but He is near to us. In him we live and move and have our being.

·      Immanuel means that we (believing humanity) have a safe meeting place with God. In ancient Israel, an encounter with Yahweh was a terrifying event, but in Jesus, in Immanuel, we have a spiritual resting place where we can relate to God without fear of destruction and judgment. As Jesus says: Mt 11:18 “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

·      Immanuel means that we no longer need a go-between or priest to access the holy God. We come to God as he is through Jesus Christ, and we can come as we are through the shed blood of Immanuel. The shepherds came in their dirty shepherd field clothing to worship. Simeon picked him up in his arms and worshipped. We have access to God in Christ.

·      Immanuel means that God is with us individually as well as with the worldwide church. I hope you are aware of that still small inner voice which is the privilege, perhaps rarely, of the Christian who knows that God is speaking to him or her by the Holy Spirit. Christ in us the hope of glory.

·      Immanuel means that God is FOR us … he is not against us. He is not out to get us. There is no reluctance to seek out the lost sheep of this world Jesus’ ‘God-with-us-ness’ is a very active, positive thing.

·      Immanuel means that those who feel they have nothing to offer church life are wrong. That’s not true, for God is not just with us collectively as a community, God is with you individually in Christ. We can do all things in Immanuel who strengthens us.

·      Immanuel means that world missions is a possibility. There is no longer any excuse. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel … and I will be with you always even unto the end of the age.” Immanuel is in missions. It is do-able.

·      And finally, Immanuel means that on my deathbed I will have reassurance that my sins are truly forgiven. On that day I will look to who was on the cross of Jesus. Immanuiel was nailed there. There were many, many crucifixions in history but only one was of sufficient price for my sins and for your sins. Only one cross would do. A good super-holy man, or a super-prophet are not a sufficient offerings. No! We can only look to one sacrifice. We look to Jesus’ cross. Because on that cross was the perfect, holy, sinless Son of God who died for my sins and your sins. This for me is the most important matter for the individual believer, and an assurance that we will all need, every one of us assembled here this morning, at our life’s end. Without Immanuel, without the ‘God-with-us-ness’ of Jesus, we can have no confidence for eternity..

As John writes of the new heavens and the new earth …
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “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.