Emmanuel - God with us
“Therefore the LORD Himself shall give you a sign; behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His Name Emmanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
God gave this gracious promise to Ahaz, the king of Judah, through the prophet Isaiah. At this time in history, Israel was divided into two, the northern kingdom, Israel or Ephraim and the southern kingdom, Judah or the House of David. The king of Israel and the King of Syria had joined forces together threatening to attack Ahaz. We read in Isaiah 7:2, “Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” In other words, King Ahaz was gripped with fear.
The enemies of Ahaz had gone as far as deciding who they would put on the throne to replace him as king over Judah after their victory. In Isaiah 7:6 they said “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”
It was in the midst of this that God sent Isaiah to Ahaz with a message assuring him that the conspiracy would fail. “Thus saith the Lord God, “It shall not stand neither shall it come to pass.” (Isaiah 7:7). Isaiah goes further to say that there shall be a sign and that a virgin shall give birth to a son and His name shall be called Emmanuel.
The name Emmanuel means God with us and implies a number of things: -
a) A promise of protection.
To the people of Israel, the Ark of the Covenant represented God’s presence. When they crossed the Red Sea, the priests stepped in first carrying the Ark of the Covenant. We also see that whenever they went to battle, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant as a sign that God was with them. The Presence of God was an assurance that they would not be defeated by their enemies but rather that they would be victorious. In other words, their God, a God of war, would fight the battle on their behalf. Therefore, by this promise, King Ahaz was assured that God Himself was going to be in the midst of Judah. What a great assurance. We too have that assurance. He has promised that the battle is not ours but the battle is the Lord’s.
Just as he promised and ensured that the conspiracy against King Ahaz failed, so He will ensure that every plot that is being concocted against us shall not stand. In fact, the Bible goes further to say, “He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd so that their hands cannot attain success, he captures the wise by their own shrewdness, and the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted. By day they meet with darkness, and grope at noon as in the night.” (Job 5:12-14).
So remember when you are faced with battles on either side, invoke the name Emmanuel, God with us, and Emmanuel will rise up on your behalf and ensure that those that plan mischief against you will not succeed. Amen.
b) Evidence of Love.
Emmanuel was to come and make His residence among men. It is surprising that this promise was made to King Ahaz, a king the Bible described as evil. In 2 Chronicles 28:1 the Bible says, “…Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of God”. Yet God deemed it right to give him the promise. What amazing love. The Bible says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). God’s hand of mercy and love extends to depths that ordinary man cannot reach. God’s love overlooked the sinful nature of Ahaz and overlooked our sinful nature. In spite of who we are, He declared “I will come and live among them” and as if that was not enough he laid down His life for us. O what manner of love is this.
c) An expression of God’s heart
Emmanuel is an expression of God’s desire to fellowship, reside, and dwell with His people. From Genesis till Revelations we see this desire. In the Garden of Eden, we see God desiring company. In Genesis 3:8-9, we read “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of The Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to man, “where are you”. Gods desire is to fellowship with us. To live in us. To live among us. To be the center of all our affairs, and no other name of God better expresses this than Emmanuel. This is further echoed in Revelations 21:3, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
Jehovah Shammah is a great name of God. It means that God is present. But it is a greater joy to know that the Lord is not just present but that He is with you to meet you at your point of need.
Jesus declared in John 10:30 that “I and the Father are One.” He made it clear that he who has seen Him has also seen the Father. In John1:1, 14, we read, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and The Word was God….and the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us”. In Jesus Christ, the prophetic promise spoken through Isaiah about Emmanuel came to pass. By His death on the cross and the promise of another Comforter, “The Holy Ghost”, God can now live in us and with us when we invite Him in. Paul takes joy in saying “In Him we live, In Him we move, In Him we have our being”. What Great wisdom from God, what a precious desire, what a depth of Love that “The Maker of The Universe” should descend so low as to live with you and I and call us His own. May we therefore present our bodies not only as a living sacrifice but also as fitting temples for Him to abide.
May our lives be such that God, Emmanuel, will have great pleasure to live in us and may He never have to ask, as He did in the Garden, “where are you?”
Click here for Nov 04 focus "The Shepherd"
