Scripture Reference: Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph, Mary, and Immanuel

According to Matthew, the blessed side of the Immanuel prophecy has now come. God has fulfilled it in the birth of Jesus. The promise of military deliverance for Ahaz prefigured something far greater. While the first Immanuel deliverance was powerful, it chiefly served to prepare for the second. In the first Immanuel, God offered to be with Ahaz in a sign. Now Jesus will be God with us in person. As before, it is God’s design to bless through Immanuel. Still, God has acted and, as we learned from Ahaz, Immanuel is here whether anyone likes it or not, whether anyone wants to believe it or not.

Some people respond to the birth of Jesus with indifference, much as Ahaz was indifferent to Isaiah’s promise of Immanuel. They think it is a nice tradition and an amusing tale that some people happen to believe. They may even be happy for friends or neighbors who are comforted to think that there is a supernatural power watching over them.

Such thinking completely misses the point of Isaiah and Matthew. Immanuel is not a religious option for those who choose to embrace it. Immanuel is the Truth, whether we choose to embrace it or not!

Some people like to pretend uncomfortable events never really happened: Stalin’s murder of Ukrainian peasants, the Holocaust, Hiroshima, and the slave trade all somehow prompt groups to deny that such events actually happened. Nonetheless, these tragedies did happen. You can’t change the facts just because you want to deny them.

Immanuel is reality too. Of course, there is a sense in which God is always with everyone, because he is omnipresent. At Christmas, we celebrate the truth that the Immanuel principle has acquired a new dimension. Jesus is God with us, in the flesh. After his ascension, he sent the Spirit, who is God with us, indwelling us.

God is with us. If we believe, he is with us to bless and to save. If not, God is still with us, to call us to repentance. If we reject that, God is still with us, as judge. God’s deliverance is the only one that works at all times. Most people can work their plans for a while. But there comes a time when dark waters swirl up to every neck, when disaster or death looms. At that time we will want to be able to call on Immanuel. He is our abiding hope. He is our only hope!

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Daniel M. Doriani, The Incarnation in the Gospels, Reformed Expository Commentary.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
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