Immanuel: God With Us Until the Age Ends

Every Christmas we study how Matthew quoted Isaiah 7:14 (“she will name him Immanuel–or God is with us”) to show what Jesus’ birth meant. Now, with all the results of that birth reported, Jesus’ promise closed the circle: “I myself—Immanuel—will be with you every day.” As scholar William Barclay noted, nothing was outside the power of the one who had died and conquered death. “Now they were the servants of a Master whose authority upon earth and in heaven was beyond all question.” It must have been staggering for eleven humble Galileans to be sent forth to conquer the world. But “no sooner was the command given, than the promise followed. They were sent out—as we are—on the greatest task in history, but with them there was the greatest presence in the world.” *

• We are “sent out,” not just given leave to sit quietly basking in Jesus’ presence. Matthew and the apostles believed Jesus is ruler and holder of authority now. But how can that be when the world remains broken? Scholar N. T. Wright explained: “The claim is not that the world is already completely as Jesus intends it to be. The claim is that he is working to take it from where it was—under the rule not only of death but of corruption, greed and every kind of wickedness—and to bring it, by slow means and quick, under the rule of his life-giving love. And how is he doing this? Here is the shock: through us, his followers.” ** Can you commit yourself to that commission every time you pray, “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? What would it look like to live as if Jesus truly is working through you?
• Does Jesus’ presence with us make any difference? Wright said it did and does: “In AD 25 nobody outside a small town in Galilee had heard of Jesus. By AD 50 there were riots in Rome because of him, and by AD 65 his followers were being persecuted by the emperor himself…. Jesus’ claim to an authority higher than kings and emperors was made good over and over again in the lives, and often enough the deaths, of his followers.” *** What specific difference would trusting his presence make in you? How might it alter how your faith community goes about sharing God’s love?