Immanuel

"Behold the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and the shall call his name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." – Matthew 1v22

‘God with us!’ What a marvellous name. We normally only think about this name at Christmas when we talk about the incarnation of Christ on earth. That is a shame because it is a concept that truly boggles the mind.

The whole idea that the perfect God would come to live among sinful men doesn’t make any sense in our human minds. Why would He do that? Why leave the splendour of heaven the live in man’s dirt and squalor and sin on earth?

Paul gives us a clue in the book of Philippians. Jesus did not consider His deity something that He had to hold on to. But He made Himself of no reputation, took on the form of a bond slave and appeared in man’s likeness. Then He became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. So God exalted Him and gave Him the name above any other name.

‘God with us’ came so that He could die in our place. He came so that He could take the world’s sin debt on Himself for us. He submitted Himself to the limitations of the flesh in order to take our place on the cross.

Not only that, He gave a promise before He left – ‘I am with you always.’

Imagine that – Immanuel forever!