IMMANUEL

"My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Ezekiel 37:27

"When all is said and done, the last word is Immanuel - God-With-Us." Isaiah 8:10 MSG

Good day to all of you! You know there are just somedays that you want to be reminded that Jesus is Immanuel - "God With Us". After some shots, cough medicine and an antibiotic in the midst of busy, busy, I needed to go back and really look at what it means that our God is Immanuel!

I love to travel...Darrin and I went to Austria last May and I just fell in love with the rolling hills leading up to the enormous, jagged snow-covered mountains known as the Alps. The vast fields covered with beautiful grape vines and lush blue-green vegetation and somehow you wonder if any of it resembles Eden. Can you imagine God walking with Adam, the first man, and Eve. Being with man was God's plan from the very start. In Knowing God by Name, Mary Kassian pointed out how in the garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve, talked with them, face to face. But after they sinned, God was unable to continue interacting with them this way. Sad huh? Nevertheless, God was still committed to being with His people. God set up a system of animal sacrifice to atone for man's sin and make it possible for Him to be "with" His people.

Immanuel is a Hebrew masculine name consisting of two Hebrew words. El, meaning "God," and Immanu, meaning "with us". As a proper name it appears twice in the Old Testament (Isa. 7:14, 8:8) and once in the New Testament (Matt. 1:23), where it is specifically associated with Jesus.

"The name Immanuel gives expression to the truth God had communicated in various ways to His covenant people throughout history: God is truly "with" His people! He is "God with us"! In the Old Testament the name was given to a child born in the time of Ahaz as a sign to the king that the nation would receive relief from enemy attack. The name demonstrated that God was "with" His people in the deliverance. But, even greater and more wonderful than this, the sign predicted the birth of the incarnate God, Jesus the Messiah - "God With Us" in the flesh - the One who would die for sins and deliver us from the ultimate Enemy. Jesus Immanuel would enable people to draw near and experience God's presence in an intimate way." 1

"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8)

Think about the lengths God went to be with us. The Father sent His Son to become flesh and die for our sins. He did it so that God might always be "with us" in a very intimate, close, personal way.

Take a minute today in the comment section and describe what it means to you to have God "with you".


1 Knowing God by Name, Mary Kassian 2008