Matt 1:20-23: “’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 be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’-which means, ‘God with us.’”
The prophet the angel referred to was Isaiah. He lived about seven centuries before and foretold of the birth of Christ Jesus. “The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son.” [Isaiah 7:14]
That alone is miraculous, but then Isaiah said something even more miraculous … “they will call him Immanuel.”
Immanuel means God with us. One author called that “The Glorious Impossible.”
God with us. Of all the names of God, this one may be the most amazing. God with us. The Almighty, Holy, Uncontainable, All-Knowing God, the Great I Am, set aside His Glory and Godly Prerogatives, and “contained” Himself in the body of a baby, totally dependent upon a teenage mother for life and a simple village carpenter for protection.
How? That’s the part that cannot be completely understood and must be accepted by faith.
Why? Because He loved us and was not willing to see His creation condemned and separated from Him.
God with us, Immanuel. He came to be with us. HE HAS NEVER LEFT US. He is God with us, Immanuel.
