God With Us

Matt 1:18-25 NKJV - Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.

The words in verse 23 echo what was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 several hundred years before Jesus was born. Everything about the birth of Jesus had to fulfill the prophecies because God is never a liar and never will be.

The Jews were already looking for the Messiah. They knew he was coming and would be their king. However, they were thinking he would come and sit on a worldly throne. They did not even expect him to come as a baby despite this prophecy. The human mind would never make up a story like this. It was God who totally did it as He said, but still blew humanity’s mind when it happened.

It takes faith to conceive such an idea as this. We use faith all the time in life. Your faith is in what you believe is the truth. Most humans will not act against what they believe in and they will die for it if they truly believe it is a deep rooted truth. We can be totally wrong about our truth though if only conceived of the human mind. If it comes from God, we can stake a real claim in what He says.

We celebrate Christmas every year because the hope of the world being reconciled with God was born to us as the baby Jesus. He was also called Immanuel, God with us. This baby did not grow up being some great looking and charismatic person. He was like everyone else. He left all the glory he had as the Word of God in heaven, but still had God with Him. Thanks to His coming and, more importantly, His sacrifice on the cross for all our sins, we all can have God with us every day.

As I stated in my post of Once Upon A Time …, God thought outside the box because that is where He is. He had everything figured out and still made the world. He sent Jesus, His Son, and also God, to be with us and show us who God the Father really was. He came to show us what real relationship is and how we could be joined in relationship with God.

Jesus is the glorified and terrifying answer to everything. He may have left His glory in heaven as he walked amongst us, but gave us the Good News and showed us God’s glory by properly representing the Father in Heaven. But since all came from Him and is for Him, we owe everything to Him. As a person of the relational Godhead, He has a claim on us.

I have accepted this claim by Him on my life and found life far more exciting while also seeing far more trials at the same time. I encourage you today to really think about Him and all that He has done for you. Life has been far more joyful for me now that I have God with me.