Christmas- Celebrating God With Us

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel”. Isaiah 7:14

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23

Immanuel means God with us. We find the word three times in the bible with two of them being about the virgin birth of Jesus which are the ones quoted here. The other is in Isaiah 8 about how Immanuel will triumph.

Jesus is Immanuel God with us. He took on human form being both fully human and fully God the Son. Jesus lived in this life and endured the hardships of this life, so he is always with us as our companion who understands us. He calls those of us who believe in him-Friend.

Whatever we face in this life, we do not face it alone. Our friend and Savior, Jesus, faces it with us. He has promised to always be with us. It is significant that Matthew, one of the three places we see the word Immanuel in the bible, ends with this promise from Jesus in Matthew 28:

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

It is no empty promise. It is based on what Jesus revealed just before making that promise.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth”. 

Jesus has all authority and power over all of creation. Because of that, his promise to always be with us is rock solid. No one and nothing can separate us from Jesus. In Romans 8:35-39:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is what we celebrate at Christmas and all year that Jesus is God with us and nothing and no one can separate us from Jesus. He is always with us as we go through the difficulties of this life and has secured eternity in heaven with him for those who believe in him.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.