Week 2 Day 4

 Read: Isaiah 7:14, Sing: Who Would Have Dreamed, Memorize: Isaiah 7:14

John MacArthur writes in his blog on Immanuel:

         “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.” - Matthew 1:23

The name Immanuel is the heart of the Christmas story. It is a Hebrew name that means, literally, “God with us.” It is a promise of incarnate deity, a promise that God Himself would appear as a human infant, Immanuel, “God with us.” This baby who was to be born would be God Himself in human form. 

If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.” We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ, but the greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!

Immanuel, infinitely rich, became poor. He assumed our nature, entered our sin-polluted world, took our guilt on Himself although He was sinless, bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). All of that is wrapped up in “God with us.”

The apostle Paul penned one of the gladdest truths in all of Scripture: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9) That’s the immeasurable gift of Christmas. Christ, God’s own Son, gave up His wealth and privilege to live as God with us, that He might save His people from their sins, and that through His poverty they might become rich." (And His Name Shall Be Called, by John MacArthur, adapted from God's Gift of Christmas, posted 12.7.2020)

My prayer this week is that we are able to dwell in the incredible richness of the truths of what Immanuel means. It has the deepest of eternal value. That we can see over our current circumstances and gaze at the manger, seeing the face of the Savior, who came to carry our sorrows. I have been trying to see areas where I do not live in the truth of God with me, particularly in this season and then looking outside. How will I take the birth of Christ and proclaim it post Advent. After all, the birth is but the beginning of the unfolding of our salvation plan. Jesus came! And... He is coming back again!

Here is the first of 3 sermons, I enjoyed this very much because I knew very little of the history of Ahaz and what was going on at the time of Isaiah, who ruled what kingdom etc. These are real people, real kingdoms, real prophets and real kings. The birth of Christ, is prophecy fulfilled, not the legend of Christmas retold. <3