“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.’” Matthew 1:22-23
The name “Immanuel” captures the essence of the incarnation and of the essential mystery of Christmas. Christ is “God with us” in the deepest and most profound ways. The name had its origin in Isaiah 7, which Matthew quotes in his account. There the Lord had commanded the wicked king of Judah, Ahaz, and the sinful Jewish population living in his tiny kingdom to ask him for a sign of his assistance. Judah’s Jewish enemy, Ephraim (Israel), led by their evil king Pekah and the Arameans under their pagan king Rezin had made an alliance to invade Judah, topple their Davidic king (Ahaz) and put up their own puppet king on Jerusalem’s throne. Ahaz and the people of Judah responded with trembling hearts rooted in faithless sin. God moved the prophet Isaiah to come to Ahaz and speak to him and to the whole population saying “Calm down! God is never going to allow that to happen!” Then God (through Isaiah) challenged Ahaz to ask for a sign, “whether in the deepest depths or the highest heights.” (Isaiah 7:11) That is an amazing phrase, for it ultimately points to Christ. But Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign.
Isaiah in exasperation says, “You are trying God’s patience! Therefore, the Lord will give you a sign anyway. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and give him the name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) This statement is one of the most complex prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament, because it is difficult to maintain the uniqueness of the virgin birth of Jesus centuries later and say that there was some kind of sign given at that time to Ahaz and Judah. I believe in Ahaz’s time an actual child was born and given the prophetic name “Immanuel—God with us.” This child became a living timepiece of the end of the threat to Judah. Before that child was old enough to reject evil and choose good, before he was old enough to eat butter and honey, the land of the two kings they were dreading would be laid waste.
"Jesus represents God walking with us through the same pain and suffering we experience daily, fighting temptation and sin as our champion, bearing our sin and the righteous wrath of God as our substitute, and rising from the dead as our eternal pattern."
The real issue is this word “Immanuel.” The reason Judah need not fear the severing of the Davidic kingly line was because the sovereign power of God was making that impossible. Why? Because it was God’s unshakable will that a Savior would be born for all the world from David’s lineage, and the temporal ambitions of two earthly rulers could never overturn the hand of the omnipotent God. But God is “with us” in a far more profound way than guaranteeing that Jesus would someday be born. God is with us to work our eternal salvation, to protect us from every enemy that could assault us, and to free us from the final enemy itself—Death.
Centuries later, Paul would ask the question, “If God is for us, who could be against us?” (Romans 8:31) Jesus represents God walking with us through the same pain and suffering we experience daily, fighting temptation and sin as our champion, bearing our sin and the righteous wrath of God as our substitute, and rising from the dead as our eternal pattern. Immanuel means the omnipotence and perfection of God completely dedicated to our eternal blessedness. That is something worthy of celebration, not just in December, but forever and ever!
