God With Us
Jesus, our Immanuel
TCF Sermon
December 11, 2005
I want to open this morning by reading a passage we usually don’t think of as part of a Christmas message. But bear with me – I think we’ll see the connection clearly as we move along.
Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?
And then verse 35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
This pair of rhetorical questions is a good place for us to start examining one of the great truths of scripture, as well as the key truth in this Christmas season we celebrate.
Matthew 1:23 (NIV) "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."
This Matthew passage is a very familiar verse this time of year. But we really miss something if we stop where we usually do in thinking about this passage. This passage is about the incarnation. That is, Jesus, the Word become flesh, who dwelt among us. God in human form. God as one of us, God with us. We think of this verse prophetically, and rightly so, because Isaiah spoke this verse hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.
This verse is a clear predictive prophecy of the birth of Jesus. Because of that, we understand this verse prophetically, and this is a good thing. It’s also important for us to consider the theological implications of this idea. Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus was, in fact, God with us. He was born in a manger, He walked the earth, He ate, He slept, He was cold on cold mornings, and sweated on warm days. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He grieved, He suffered. He laughed. He experienced joy and sorrow. In other words, the maker of the universe, the one who flung the stars in the heavens, the one who formed the mountains and the seas, the one who created each of us, this very same God, was with us in the flesh.
He was just as real as the person sitting next to you. People could touch Him. If they shook His hand, it was warm. If they rubbed their hands on His face, they felt the stubble of His beard. If they watched him sleep, his chest moved up and down as He breathed…a lot like some of you do when I preach…
He was a real, living, breathing, human being. He was One who bled like we bleed when we get a cut, but He was One who bled and died for us. Yet at the same time, He was fully God. He never ceased to be God, even as He was God in the flesh, God with us.
These are awesome truths. They’re important for us to remember this Christmas season, and always. But if we stop there, I think we miss something important.
Singer/songwriter and author Michael Card says:
We focus so much on the fact that Jesus died for us, we sometimes forget that He also lived for us, and lives for us still.
Think about that for a moment. When Jesus ascended into heaven, and Jesus was Immanuel, did that mean that God was no longer with us? Jesus walking the earth wasn’t the first time God was with us, and when Jesus ascended into heaven, that wasn’t the end of God with us.
Yes, it’s true, Jesus was a unique picture of God with us. Jesus was God in the flesh. But God is with us in other ways besides the person of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life…He is the second person of God, come to dwell among us…and in that sense, Jesus was truly unique.
But God has always been with His people, and He is with His people still.
As early as Genesis, we see God with His people. We see Him speaking to His people, interacting with them. Well, you might think, that didn’t mean He was with them. Even we can speak to someone we’re not with. If we finite creatures can speak to someone halfway around the world on a telephone, then clearly God can speak to His people without being with them.
But as early as Genesis 26, we see God saying that He will be with His people.
Genesis 26:3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you.
The Old Testament is chock full of instances where God tells someone He is with them, or will be with them. We’ll look at the unique implications of some of those in a moment. And lest we think that ended when Jesus ascended into heaven, and was no longer the living God walking the earth as one of us, consider this passage, these words of Jesus to His followers:
John 14:16-20 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Twice in this passage, Jesus tells His disciples, and us, of the new way, new to them, 2,000 years old to us, that God would be with them. It was a unique way – a way that, even as real and genuine as God’s presence was in the Old Testament, even the patriarchs didn’t experience.
Even as real as Jesus was to His disciples, so real they could touch Him physically, feel His pulse, see Him sweat and breathe…even they didn’t have this unique presence until after Jesus ascended into heaven.
This Counselor… and isn’t it interesting that Jesus uses that Word…because that’s one of the names prophetically given to Jesus…Wonderful counselor, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
But this counselor, though we wouldn’t be able to feel the stubble of His beard, or see him eat, drink, shiver or sweat, would be with us in an even more special, unique, wonderful way. He would be in us. That’s what Jesus promised His disciples. That’s what He promises us.
Verse 17 says He lives with you and is in you.
Verse 20 says you are in me, and I am in you.
The key words here – “in you.”
It reminds me of the difference between bacon and eggs. You’ve probably heard this. Chickens are involved in providing us a traditional American breakfast. They provide the eggs, a relatively small sacrifice. But pigs are more than involved. They’re committed. You don’t get to be a slab of sizzling bacon just by being involved. Pigs give their lives to be in you, to be a part of you, as bacon, or as ham, or as pork chops. They’re committed.
Jesus wasn’t just involved in our salvation, He was committed. Jesus gave His life for us. He revealed the love of God in a very real way. And His death and resurrection allowed Him to live in His people, in a way that’s just as real as bacon being in you, and becoming a part of you.
It’s the difference between putting on a shirt, which can only touch my outside….and eating something. My shirt is with me in a very real sense. But it’s still physically detached from me. The closest it can come to me is to touch the outer layer of my skin. It’s with me because it comes along with me wherever I go when I wear it, but it isn’t with me as Jesus is, through His Holy Spirit, the counselor He told His disciples about, which lives in me.
When Jesus came to earth, as Immanuel, God with us, He didn’t come to live next door, or down the block, and periodically hang out with us….though that’s how it seemed to start.
He came to live inside us. Jesus presence is more like the bacon. The protein of the bacon gets absorbed into me, and actually becomes a part of me…. so does the fat. It goes with me, and it shapes me into who and what I am. Now, of course, in this way of looking at it, perhaps bacon’s not the best food example. If I eat too much of it, there will likely be too much of me.
But you get the idea. We could just as easily use a piece of fruit, something healthier to eat, as an example. The idea is that, Jesus, our Immanuel, God with us, not only came to be one of us, but also to be one in us.
Much as the Spirit of God resided in Jesus the God-man, we are privileged to have the spirit of God reside in us.
What does it say in Galatians 2:20?
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Now, isn’t that a wonderful way for God to be with us? It’s about the most intimate way He could choose to be with us - living in us.
Still, God has always been with His people.
I found it interesting as I found dozens of passages stating this truth, that the only times God speaks these words – I’ll be with you - is to His people, or to someone else, a follower of God or not, whom He intends to use for His purposes. So God does not say “I will be with you” to just anybody.
In a larger sense, of course, yes, God is with everyone, even those who do not know or serve Him – that’s a doctrinal understanding of God called His omnipresence.
But in the sense used most often in scripture, God is with those who follow Him and serve Him.
The Bible speaks of God’s presence in two major ways: in space and in relationships. Theologians used the term omnipresence, derived from Latin, to speak of God’s presence everywhere in all the world’s space. Moses experienced that presence on a wilderness mountain (Exodus 3); Isaiah, in the Jerusalem Temple (Isaiah 6); and Paul, on an international highway (Acts 9). Most often the Bible speaks in terms of God being present in relationships. He called Israel to be His people (Exodus 19:3-6). He appeared to Elijah in a “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). Most of all God appeared Person to person in the human flesh of His Son Jesus. Holman Bible Dictionary
This is the kind of “God with us” understanding we have from Sunday school. We don’t want to underestimate this omnipresence aspect of God being with us.
A few weeks ago, Jim Garrett touched on this in his sermon.
He read from:
Matthew 12:36 (NIV) But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
How can that be? How can we be accountable for our careless words? How can we be accountable for our sin? Because God was with us when we spoke them. Because God was with us, and in us, when we committed the sin. The idea that God is with us should be a deterrent from sin. Nothing escapes His gaze.
Psalm 139:7-8 (NIV) Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Now, if we’re walking with God, serving Him, and seeking to please Him, this is a wonderful truth. Because, there’s nowhere we can flee from His presence.
But if we’re in sin, it’s a sobering thought. Because, again, there’s nowhere we can flee from His presence.
Another thing Jim mentioned relates to the truth that God is with us. Jim said that when we believers enter darkness, light enters the room. Why? Because God is with us. As followers of Jesus, we carry the light of Christ wherever we go, because of this reality. God is with us, and in us. Let’s spend a few minutes looking at a few of the special ways, the specific times, God is with us. A few moments ago, we looked at the passage from Genesis 26.
A few verses later, we read this:
Genesis 26:24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."
This is a reality in scripture - that God will be with us in our future. First of all, He sees the end from the beginning, so He knows what’s coming. Secondly, because He’s with us, we can hope in Him.
Proverbs 23:18 (NIV) There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
Why? Because God is with us. If there’s anything that seems to cause us anxiety, and yes, even fear or worry, it’s the unknown of the future. It might be our finances. It might be our job, or lack of it. It might be the world we live in – war and disease. It might be our families or our children – what’s going to happen to them?
But God reminded Isaac in this Genesis passage that He is faithful. He told him not to fear the future, because I am with you. God, centuries before Isaiah spoke the prophecy of Jesus our Immanuel, was already Immanuel to Isaac.
Related to this is the fact that God is with us when we’re afraid. God is with us in fear and in weakness.
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
He chooses to uphold us by being with us.
Isaiah 43:5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
Jeremiah 1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.
God’s not only with us in fear, but in discouragement:
1 Chron. 28:20 (NIV) David also said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you
Next, God is with us in battle. Now, the passages of scripture we can find most often relate to real physical battles, but I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to say that God is with us in any kind of battle.
Ephes. 6:10-12 (NIV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Does that sound like a battle to you?
Deut. 31:23 The LORD gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: "Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you."
Joshua 1:5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Joshua 3:7 And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.
Judges 6:16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
Some of us are fighting serious, deep spiritual battles. We may be battling against sin. We may be in a spiritual battle for the soul of a loved one, or we’re in a spiritual battle with the enemy over any of a myriad of things.
Here’s the Lord’s promise to us.
Jeremiah 1:19 They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.
Gordon spoke last week about trials and suffering. And the Word is very clear that God is with us then, too.
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Now, I realize I’m lifting many of these passages out of context. I must note that each of these were very specific promises to specific people, in a specific time and place. But here’s why I believe we can take courage from this idea that God is with us. These were God’s people – these words of encouragement, each of which includes phrases like:
The Lord is with you… I am with you… God is with you…were spoken to God’s people.
There’s no reason at all to think that if God was with His people in these situations, He cannot or will not be with us in ours. I think this passage in Matthew, which seems pretty all-encompassing, allows us to claim these other passages for ourselves:
Matthew 28:20 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Always about covers it, doesn’t it?
The love of God is such that He is with us even when we disappoint Him, even when we sin, even when He is compelled to bring discipline into our lives.
Zephaniah 3:15-17 15 The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
This was written to God’s people who were under judgment. But God promised to “take away their punishment.” In other words, it wasn’t to last forever. Then we see again those marvelous words. The Lord, The King of Israel, is with you. Can you imagine how comforting those words must have been?
And then there’s the only other place in the Old Testament where the word Immanuel is actually used. We saw the first one in Isaiah 7, which Matthew then quoted in the New Testament. But in Isaiah 8, we see Immanuel used again.
Isaiah 8:8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel!"
And then in verse 10
Isaiah 8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
Now, this is an interesting passage, because it’s a passage of judgment. But with our loving God, judgment or discipline of His people is always mixed with hope of redemption, and always tempered with His mercy.
Let me read the passage in context:
Isaiah 8:6-10 (NIV) "Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River-- the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks 8and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel!" 9Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! 10Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
Now, time doesn’t permit us to completely examine this passage, but I want, in the context of what we’re talking about this morning, to note a couple of things. Assyria here is pictured as a river of judgment. Isaiah prophesies that Assyria would cover Judah up to the neck, meaning that the people of Judah would be almost, but not quite drowned.
But then, we see hope intermixed with judgment. We see the word Immanuel. God with us. It’s Isaiah’s reminder to the people that God still loves them, that this discipline is for but a time, and because of His love for them, He would be with them, even in this time of discipline.
Bible Knowledge Commentary notes:
Even though they (the Assyrians) would carefully work out a strategy and a plan for battle, they would not succeed because God was with Judah (“Immanuel” in Heb.; cf. 7:14; 8:8). That great truth separated Judah from all other nations of the world. Because God has promised to be with His people, they were to have faith in Him no matter how bad their circumstances. He would not desert them.
The truth is, if He’s with us, He’s also for us. This brings us full circle, back to where our opening passages of scripture connect with the familiar Matthew passage we usually read at Christmas.
Remember what we read at the outset.
Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us? And then verse 35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
To use a more modern phrasing of 8:31, we might say, “If God’s on our side, who can compete against us and win?”
Again, it’s a rhetorical question… which if we were to answer it, we would have to say… nobody, nothing, no circumstance, can defeat us, if God is for us…
And because He’s with us, He’s for us…. because we cannot be separated from the presence of Christ, because God is with us, we cannot be separated from His love.
Here’s a little analogy, which is, because no one compares with God, definitely inadequate, but hopefully will give us a glimpse of what we’re talking about when we say that God’s on our side and we cannot lose.
I used to play basketball every Saturday morning with a group of guys. We’d play two on two, three on three, five on five, depending on how many guys showed up. There was a guy, a friend of mine, who was clearly the best player. His name was Dave Ireton. Everyone wanted to be on his team, because you felt as if you had the best chance of winning if Dave was for you and not against you.
Let’s take that idea a step further. If I took the best three basketball players here at TCF….let’s say maybe Sarah Joy, who played college ball, and Dave Troutman, because he’s 6 foot 4, and maybe, I don’t know, Steve Staub, who in his day could get off the floor pretty well and shoot the ball, too. And let’s say we matched them up against two of our fine children. But the third person on the other team was Michael Jordan.
We might be inclined to say that, if Michael Jordan’s on your side, you’re going to win in a matchup like that. I don’t know, I guess I tend to think in sports analogies.
But hopefully you get the point. If Michael’s for you in a game of three on three hoops, who can stand against you?
That’s the wonder and joy of Immanuel, God with us. He’s not only with us, He’s for us. He’s with us in our future, whatever it holds.
He’s with us when we’re afraid. He’s with us when we suffer.
He’s with us in trial and testing. He’s with us in battle.
He’s with us in weakness. He’s even with us in His discipline of us – maybe especially then.
When Jesus became Emmanuel, God with us, on that first Christmas morning, fullfilling Isaiah’s prophecy so perfectly, as unique and important as it was, it was also God’s reminder to us, the visible representation to us, that He’s always been with us, and that He always will be with us.
Gordon, isn’t it true that God so often gives us messages out of our own lives? I think if you were to ask Gordon, he’d tell you last week’s message on the purpose of suffering is one that He has lived, and in many ways, is living.
This week’s message is no different. I’m living in this now. I need God to be with me, in all the ways we looked at this morning. I’m guessing I’m not alone. I’m guessing that there are many of you who feel the need to know that God is with you, in whatever you’re facing.
Let’s pray…
credit to David Elvery for ideas drawn from his sermon posted on Sermon Central
