The child of Christmas is Immanuel, God with us.
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A title given to the child of Christmas comes in Matthew chapter 1 verse 23. This is one of the great, great titles that he bears. “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” He is not only Jesus, He is Immanuel. And to see that at this time of year is to see a great reality.
Note that verse 23 is a quote from the Old Testament. It is taken from Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. Here, the angel of the Lord speaking to Joseph quotes Isaiah 7:14.
Let me tell you a little bit of background about that because you might wonder as you study the Bible why do you read along and all of a sudden, boom, here’s a prophecy about Messiah?
Well, let me just give you a little bit of the background. The scene in Isaiah chapter 7 is during the reign of King Ahaz in Judah. You remember that after Solomon’s life the kingdom was split, Israel and the north ten tribes, Judah in the south with just Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. The northern kingdom was apostate. The southern kingdom at times was true to Jehovah God. It is in the southern kingdom that Isaiah is prophesying. It is in the southern kingdom that Ahaz is king. Ahaz, by the way, is the son of one of the great kings, Uzziah.
But Ahaz, though son of the great Uzziah, filled Jerusalem with idols. He reinstated the worship of the pagan god Molech, which required, by the way, sacrificial burning of babies, and he burned his own baby on the altar to Molech. He was so wicked and so evil that even wicked kings around him were upset at what he was doing.
Two of them, a man named Rezin, who was king of Syria, and a man named Pekah, who was ruling over the area of Israel, that territory, decided to get rid of Ahaz. So these two kings, Rezin and Pekah, were going to move against Ahaz to get him out. In the face of such a threat, he decided to strengthen his hand, not by turning to God to preserve the Davidic line and preserve the people, but he decided to turn to the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser, feeling that if he made an alliance with this great Assyrian monarch, Rezin and Pekah would think a long time before they would attack him because of the formidable nature of this man and his powerful army.
In fact, he was so adamant about it that he went and plundered the temple, stole all the gold and silver and gave it to Tiglath-Pileser to buy him and buy his allegiance. It was precisely at that time that God said, “Isaiah, you need to go have a talk with Ahaz.” And so God sent Isaiah to Ahaz to confront him, to tell him not to trust the Assyrians, but trust God, the living God. In spite of all of his evil, he said, “God will preserve your people and God will preserve the Davidic line. He will deliver you from those two kings. You don’t need this alliance with the Assyrian.” Ahaz refused to listen. And it’s at that juncture that the prophet said this. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel.”
What’s he saying? How does this fit? He’s saying, “Look, God is saying to you no one will be allowed to destroy the people of God and no one will be allowed to destroy David’s royal line. “The virgin shall be with child, shall bear a son, shall call his name Immanuel.” This thing is going to go off the way it was planned. That’s what he’s saying. Even if the armies of Rezin and Pekah come against you, the virgin-born son of God who is Immanuel will come.
Now what does that mean? Listen carefully to this. What Isaiah is saying to him is God has promised not to forsake His people. That’s what he’s saying. You don’t have to fear these two petty kings. God won’t forsake you. In fact, when the Messiah comes, it will be God with us. God not only will not forsake you, He will come among you. That’s the point. Just trust Him. He won’t forsake you. Don’t you know His promise is to come and dwell among you?
What does Immanuel mean? It means God lives among us. It means God became a man. God will be present with His people. The child of Christmas is Immanuel, God with us. That child that was born that day, though fully human, was also fully God. In the Old Testament, the presence of God was in the tabernacle. The presence of God was in the temple. And now, in the New Testament, the presence of God is in a body in the person of Christ. God with us. / Adapted from a message, “The Power of Christmas Truth” by John MacArthur.
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Matthew 1:21-23
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated,
“God with us.”