Dec
12
This installment of wading through Handel’s Messiah takes us to Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23.
Isaiah 7:14 (and Matt 1:23) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Our usual take on this passage is what an amazing thing it is for a virgin to bear a child. But consider a moment the second half of this verse: “and shall call his name Immanuel.” Matthew adds the translation of “Immanuel” as “God with us.” Did you catch that? God with us! God WITH us! That God should be with His people is an amazing promise and an amazing reality in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
What comfort it was for Israel in their wilderness wanderings to see the pillar of fire by night, the cloud by day, the tabernacle erected, and know that God was with them. We can sympathize with Moses’ bold statement, “Lord if you don’t go with us, we aren’t going anywhere.” Then God expressed his presence with his people in the temple under the reign of Solomon. Yet these all were only signs and symbols pointing to the day that God would so be with his people that he would become one of them. He came and tabernacled (John 1:14) with his people. What amazing grace that He would come as man to redeem man! What an encouragement is this passage and that we have a savior we can call Immanuel, God with us!
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