Isaiah 7:14 ~Therefore the Lord himself
will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a
son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
I have been dwelling on this promise this week. God came to earth. To become a man. To be with us.
These are verses I shared with my Sunday School class last week. I hope they will be a blessing to you!
Matthew 1:18-25 ~
Now the
birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary
had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found
to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband
Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved
to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for
that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She
will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save
his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a son,
and they shall
call his name
Immanuel”
(which
means,
God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he
did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but
knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his
name Jesus.
From the very beginning of creation, God's desire to fellowship with people is evident:
Genesis
3:8-9 ~ And they heard the sound of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool
of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God
among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord
God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
When God delivered His people Israel from slavery in Egypt, He tells them plainly what His purpose was:
Exodus 29:45-46 ~
I will dwell among the people of Israel
and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord
their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt
that I might
dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
Moses reminded
them of His presence when they went it was time to go to battle to take the Land the Lord had promised to give Abraham and his decedents:
Deuteronomy 31:6 ~
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it
is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will
not leave you or forsake you.”
God confirmed His
presence to Joshua, too:
Joshua 1:5-6 ~ No man shall be able to stand before you all the
days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I
will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and
courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that
I swore to their fathers to give them.
When David was king of Israel, he understood God's desire to dwell among His people, continually:
2 Samuel 7:1-3 ~ Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord
had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king
said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar,
but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” 3 And Nathan said to the
king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
But God said it
was not for David to build His house, but his son Solomon would build
a temple for the Lord. Yet it is so amazing that God would choose dwell
among sinful, broken, people, that Solomon declares in his prayer at the dedication
of the temple:
2 Chronicles 6:18 ~ “But will God indeed
dwell with man
on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain
you, how much less this house that I have built!”
But this is His
desire! The prophets declared over and over how He longs for His
people to be with Him.
Micah 6:8 ~ He has told you, O man, what is good;
and
what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love
kindness,
and to walk humbly
with your
God?
He wants to be
with us! This is why He was born in flesh. He came to die, to be with
us, and to bring us to Himself.
At the last supper with His disciples,
He tells them:
Luke 22:15 ~ And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to
eat this Passover
with you before I suffer.
Matthew 26:26-29 ~ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread,
and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and
said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup,
and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of
it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which
is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell
you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day
when I drink it new
with you in my Father's kingdom.”
He could have just said, "new... in my Father's kingdom" but He longs to have us with
Him in the kingdom of God.
One of the last things He told His disciples before His death:
John 14:1-3 ~ Let
not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In
my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have
told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that
where I am you may be also.
And so, even in death, we
need not fear:
Psalm 23:4 ~ Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they
comfort me.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ~ But we do not want you to be
uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not
grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
through Jesus, God will
bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we
declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who
are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who
have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from
heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and
with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air, and so
we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore
encourage one another with these words.
What a promise! What a hope! And if this is our hope, how will we live to prepare?
1 John 3:2-3
Beloved,
we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared;
but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Comfort in death,
and purpose in life.
He gives us the command to go, and make disciples, but
not on our own:
Matthew 28:19-20 ~ Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded you. And behold,
I am with you always, to the end of
the age.”
As we go, there
will be trials and persecution. Do not lose heart! He is still with
us!
2 Corinthians 4:7-15 ~ But we have this
treasure in jars of
clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to
us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed,
but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but
not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body
the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested
in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to
death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us,
but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has
been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and
so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also
with Jesus and bring us
with you into
his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as
grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving,
to the glory of God.
And lastly,
because it's easy to get distracted and think that material blessings
are our source of joy in during this season. Consider this exhortation:
Hebrews 13:5-6 ~ Keep your life free from love of money, and be
content with what you have, for he has said, “
I will never leave
you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not
fear;
what can man do to me?”
Don't set your heart the things you
don't have.
Remember Who is with you.
Immanuel. God is with us!
With us in our ministry.
With us to sanctify us.
With us in our
trials.
With us in persecution.
With us in life.
With us in death.
He will never leave us or forsake us.
Immanuel! GOD is WITH us!
~~~~~
