‘Emmanuel: God with us’

Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth was considering breaking off his engagement to Mary. She was pregnant. And he wasn’t the father. According to Matthew’s Gospel, the angel of the Lord appeared to Jospeh in a dream to convince him to go through with the marriage. The heavenly visitor told the carpenter, ‘do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’ As the Lord had spoken by Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” The name given to Jesus by ancient prophecy tells us something about his unique identity and mission.

 

God with us

Matthew explains that Emmanuel means, ‘God with us’. Christians believe that the baby boy who was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger was God in human form. Now, that’s an awesome claim. We might perhaps expect that God would do God-like stuff, like create the universe to display his wisdom, power and goodness. But would the Creator of heaven and earth stoop to enter our world as man? The New Testament insists that he did. Jesus is the Son of God, fully divine in every way. Yet he became human. He is Emmanuel, God with us as one of us.

 

God for us

The angel of the Lord also instructed Jospeh that Mary’s son was to be named Jesus. Once more, a word of explanation is given, “for he will save his people from their sins”. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means ‘the Lord saves’. That is the reason why God became man, to rescue us from sin and death. Christ, who was without sin, died in our place on the cross that we may be forgiven. As Paul affirms, ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

 

God in us

Matthew concludes his Gospel by telling us that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples. The final words of the risen Lord to his followers in Mathew’s account are, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Jesus ascended to heaven, having completed the work of salvation. He then poured out the Holy Spirit upon the church on the Day of Pentecost. Christ dwells in his people by the power of the Spirit. His presence in the lives of his followers now is the pledge of greater things to come, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’. Jesus became Emmanuel, God with us so that those who believe in him may be with God for ever. 

See here for Providence Baptist Church Christmas Services 

* Article for various local parish mags