God With Us Sermon I: Blessed Be The Name Of Immanuel Series

BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD IMMANUEL - “GOD WITH US”

In one of those children’s sermons that often mean as much to adults as to children, the pastor asked the kids to “suppose you and your mom get separated at the grocery store; you get scared and start to panic; as you run toward the end of the aisle, about to burst out crying, you see a shadow that looks like your mom and immediately you feel relieved because the shadow gives you a sense of hope.

“Now, let me ask you a question: Which is better? The happiness of seeing your mom’s shadow, or the great joy of having your mom step around the corner in plain sight, and it really is her? That’s the way it was when Jesus came into the world . . . why we celebrate Christmas.”

Before Jesus was born, people lived in fear of being separated from God . . . of being lost; so, God the Father showed them the shadow of His Son - which gave them hope; then, when God’s timing was right, the Son of God Himself appeared – first, as the Christ Child, born of a virgin, laid in a manger in a sheep stall . . .

Thus, an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds in a field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and proclaimed to them: “Fear not, for I bring good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

Shadows and signs of the coming of the Messiah are found throughout the history of God’s chosen people as recorded in the Old Testament; and, in order to get the complete picture of why we celebrate Christmas, we go back seven centuries before Christ to Isaiah’s three messianic prophecies that occurred during the reign of Israel’s wicked king Ahaz who sought to delegitimize worship of the LORD God.

Isaiah’s first messianic prophecy foreshadowed the virgin birth as a sign of the divinity of the Son to be born plus the name He was to be called to signify His sovereignty as well as His humanity – Isaiah 7:10-14 . . .

The context for this prophecy is instructive for our day inasmuch as there are those who would have us shut our mouths about the one and only LORD God (Ahaz not only shut the gates of the temple, he melted the temple’s gold and silver vessels for personal profit, he set up altars on his roof to worship the sun, moon and stars. Paganist!).

Isaiah informed Ahaz about the LORD’s displeasure with his blasphemous attitude, warned him about his contemptible acts . . . forming a military pact with Judah’s enemies . . . gave him a chance to redeem himself by trusting the LORD.

As is the case with anyone who wants nothing to do with trusting the LORD – since doing so would elevate such a Higher Being to a position above their own – Ahaz deviously dismissed the prophet’s offer of a “sign” by piously appearing to be humble (nothing more than a ploy to avoid the risk of being proved wrong with regard to his contention that Israel’s God was no greater than other gods.)

Somewhat irritated, Isaiah seems to wonder out loud if this guy really knew what he was getting himself into --- as if to say, “Hey, man, it’s one thing to try my patience, BUT to try the LORD my God’s patience is quite a stupid strategy on your part. You really don’t know Who you’re dealing with, do you?”

Having made his point about Ahaz’s “pushing the envelope” by refusing the LORD’s offer to ask for a sign to assure the king of victory if only he would trust in the LORD God, the LORD via Isaiah used the opportunity to turn a negative into a positive by announcing the sign of all signs.

The sign? “A virgin shall conceive!” Her son will be called “Immanuel”! Meaning? “God with us!” The message and mission of “God with us”? Isaiah 9:6-7 . . .

Emerging from the darkness in which the world found itself (finds itself) there would come (has come) the light of Hope. Every generation stands in need of Hope! With the light of every new day, the LORD God reassures us of His presence. Thank you, Lord, for the light of this day! Thank you Lord for your presence! God with us!

Our awareness of God’s Presence takes the “weight of the (our) world” off our shoulders, as a new day brings news of so much of this and that going on here and there while in this place we call home we find that none of us is exempt from our own problems. Yet, we keep on keeping on, trusting in the LORD!