God with Us

Reading: Matthew 1.18-25

God with a skin on...

It was dark days for God’s people. Ahaz wasn’t a good king. He had been playing around with other gods. He didn’t really trust the Lord. Yet the Lord still cared for his people. That was when the promise came, "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Is. 7.14).

Immanuel means "God with us" - God with a skin on.

Of course, there must have been some particular immediate birth as a sign of God’s presence in their dark situation. But there was far more to it. No mere human child could be Immanuel. Part of the prophecy was "left dangling," as it were, for completion (fulfilment) later on.

Hard times came on God’s people again and again. Some eight hundred years later they were subject to the Roman Empire. It was against that background that Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, faced a personal crisis. He was engaged to be married to Mary. Now she had told him she was pregnant - but don’t worry, Joseph, I haven’t been unfaithful to you. It’s God - this is the work of the Holy Spirit!

Pregnant? Faithful? Holy Spirit? Unlikely story! If any young woman in Nazareth became pregnant out of wedlock, there was always some fellow involved. And the penalties for unfaithfulness during betrothal were as severe as for adultery in marriage.

Joseph wasn’t a vindictive man. He truly loved Mary. He wanted to act in a way that would protect her. He could quietly break off the betrothal, but that would leave Mary with the load of unwed motherhood in little Nazareth.

That was when the message came to Joseph - "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." And Matthew added, "All this took place to fulfil 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’." (Mt. 1.20-23)

Immanuel, God with us - God with a skin on.

John wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1.1,14).

Jesus could say, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does" (5.19). "I and the Father are one" (10.30). "So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say" (12.50). "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (14.9).

Humanly speaking, that cost him his life. But... you can’t kill God! That could only happen because it was part of God’s plan. Peter told the crowd on the Day of Pentecost, "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth... was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him" (Acts 2.22-24). The cross, a sign of human hatred and rejection, is a sign of God’s love and a means of forgiveness.

Immanuel, God with us - God with a skin on.

For the moment he’s gone. We can’t dial him up on some earthly telephone. But we can talk to him in prayer. And we have his promise, "... surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Mt. 18.20).

Immanuel isn’t here as a physical presence. Paul calls the church - the people who believe in Jesus - the "body" of Christ (as in Eph. 1.23). Folk will see what God is like through us. Perhaps that seems a bit scary! And it would be if he wasn’t with us as the constant unseen Presence.

Keep in touch with him. Live in unity with one another - a body needs all the "members" (1 Cor. 12.16-20). Allow the love and grace of God to reach others through you.

Prayer: Glad tidings of great joy! To us a Child is born! To us a Son is given! Eternal Lord, we praise you! We thank you! We celebrate Immanuel, God with us! We come to you in his name. Through him we receive your saving grace. Enable us to be your body - living and showing your presence and love and grace to others day by day. In Immanuel’s name, Amen.