December 23, 2024

Emmanuel, God With Us

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You’ve come to bring peace, to be Love
To be nearer to us
You’ve come to bring life, to be Light
To shine brighter in us

Oh, Emmanuel
God with us

Our Deliverer, You are Savior
In Your presence we find our strength
Over ev’rything, our Redemption
God with us
You are God with us

Oh, You’ve come to be hope to this world
For Your honor and name
And You’ve come to take sin, to bear shame
And to conquer the grave

You are here
You are holy
We are standing in Your glory

All Sons and Daughters
Singer/Songwriters: Jason Ingram, Leslie Jordan

*   ♥  ~  ✝  ~  ★    *

Joy
Love
Hope
Light
Peace
Savior
Strength
Deliverer
Redemption
EmmanuelGod with us!

In this beautiful song, these names are sung in praise of Jesus.  They are just a few of the names/titles by which Jesus is referred to throughout the Scriptures…some proclaimed by God, some through His prophets, and some given by man.  One of the most significant is Immanuel.

The name Emmanuel or Immanuel  of the Hebrew עִמָּנוּאֵל ” God [is] with us” consists of two Hebrew words: אֵל (EL, meaning ‘God’) and עִמָּנוּ (ʻImmānū, meaning ‘with us’). **  And this very special name, as Matthew tells us, means “God with us.” Jesus Christ is Immanuel, “God with us.” This name was first given by the prophet Isaiah more than 700 years before Jesus’ birth.

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign:
Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].
Isaiah 7:14

God’s people trusted and waited for the fulfillment of this promise for a long time.  Mary and Joseph, having been raised by parents who believed this promise and taught them about the coming Messiah, also had it in their own hearts.  Can you only imagine what stirred in Joseph’s heart as the angel told him,

…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins.
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,
and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
Matthew 1:20-23

{read the whole passage here}

When God sent His Son to ‘dwell among us’ it was just as if God was with us.

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God; and all things were made through Him
and apart from Him nothing was made which was made…
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth
John 1:1-3, 14

This verse speaks of ‘God with us’  so clearly to me!  What an incredible plan Almighty God had from the beginning to rescue and redeem us—to save us by sending His Son to live among us.

Jesus always gave honor and glory to His Father…never placing it upon Himself (even when others tried to).  I am sure His example constantly showed His disciples that He always did His Father’s will…and that they should do so also.

Even towards the end He faithfully and lovingly prepared and comforted their hearts. During the Last Supper, when He was alone with just those closest to Him, Jesus told them many times and in many ways that He no longer would be with them BUT they would not be alone…He would send the Paraclete—the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  And reminded them again and again how He had been Emmanuel—God with {them}.

Jesus said to him, “I am The Way, and The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”  Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”  Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My Name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My Name, I will do it.”

John 14:6-14

*   ♥  ~  ✝  ~  ★    *

What a loving Lord and Savior!  He came to be Immanuel ~ God with us.  In this one name, everything mankind has ever needed—and still needs!—was brought to earth.   God’s promise of salvation was fulfilled in His Gift of Jesus.  How blessed we are that it was His plan for Jesus to become Immanuel—God with us. May we be thankful for that provision as we wait for the fullness of Immanuel when Jesus returns to gather the Church and we live for eternity in His Presence…truly God <will be> with us!

The songwriter of the carol, Hark, The Herald Angels Sing, Charles Wesley, wrote his understanding of the awesome glory of Jesus being Emmanuel with the words below; may we echo the same!

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.

** click here for more info from the Strong’s Concordance of the Bible

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

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Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven, to earth come down;
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling;
All Thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never,
Nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
‘Til in heaven we take our place,
‘Til we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise. 

Written by Charles Wesley

  *  ~  ♥  ~  ✞  ~  ♥  ~  *

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:16

Since we just finished celebrating St. Valentine’s Day, we should not stop celebrating the Author of love, God our Father.  He wants to love us in a way that no human ever could. I was listening to a podcast earlier in the week, in which the person made a comment that caught my attention. He said,

“God wants us to love each other as He loved His Son.”

How many of us do that? Now, how many of us put our kids before our spouses? We should not do that!  We are to love our husbands the way we love our son or daughter.  Our children are important, but not more than our spouse.

Or even God….  God should always hold first place in our lives, our thoughts, and our actions. Then comes our spouse…and then our children. We may not have seen it modeled for us, but now we know.  With all that in order, our families would be okay. God will help us, all we have to do is ask for the help from the Holy Spirit.

*  ~  ♥  ~  ✞  ~  ♥  ~  *

Dear Father, as Charles Wesley wrote in his song, “Let us see Your great salvation perfectly restored in You; changed from glory into glory, ’til in Heaven we take our place, ’til we cast our crowns before You, lost in wonder, love, and praise.” We will one day stand before You. Let us never forget to love and to forgive as You have shown us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.