IMMANUEL GOD WITH US

I’ve pondered recently the offensively beautiful reality that Jesus not only came to earth, but wrapped Himself in flesh and acquainted Himself with our normal. For Him to just have come would have been enough, but for Him to stay and live and teach and work and do life for the time that He did? It carries a message of the deepest, most radical Love ever known.

He is Immanuel, God with us. But as I get to know Him, I have come to meet Him as Immanuel, the God Who wants to be with us. Not just a “with us” for the sake of time, but a “with us” for the sake of relationship. His coming forever altered history because deity wrapped Himself in humanity and said our names. He is the coming-close-One, the ever-nearer-One, the One Who longs to be seen with us. He was then and He is now and He will be, this God with us. This Immanuel.

Who would have imagined a King like this? A King Who took on the cries of a baby only to be raised by one He created in His own two hands. His very creation becoming His mother. Dependent upon one He knit together in the secret places. Yielding to the ways of humanity so that humanity could be exposed to the ways of the Kingdom. This is our Immanuel, God with us.

And from Old Testament to New, from ages past until now, we stand in awe of this King Who not only came, but wanted to come.

Matthew 1:23 TPT

Listen! A virgin will be pregnant,

   she will give birth to a Son,

   and he will be known as “Emmanuel,”

   which means in Hebrew,

   “God became one of us.”

You see, we so often separate our humanity from the holy. We build our bridge and call it sanctification and determine that a separation must exist for Him to interact with us. But oh how we are caught unaware when we watch Him boldly cross that bridge to come close and bend low and be seen with us. To be called one of us. The Holy lovingly crossing into humanity and calling it good.

But this is the part of our Jesus that I can never fully get over: His coming close, His coming down, made Him touchable. How risky it seems, I think, for a King to make Himself vulnerable to someone like me. And yet His love convinces me time and time again that He’d come as an infant for a million generations if it meant we knew Him in this way. Our Immanuel. Our God with us. He is far more relational than we’ve ever given Him credit for.

A God Who yearns for the collision of Holy and humanity. A God Who steeps Himself into my reality and whispers into my normal, I am here. His Presence so offensively available that I can find Him anywhere it seems.

In Hebrew, Immanu El, literally means “God is with us.” Scripture brilliantly weaves this Name of our King throughout moments of deep need and pregnant moments of hope. Because this God, this Immanuel, God with us, can be found in both places simultaneously.

Isaiah 7:14 TPT

The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold—the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will name him God Among Us.

What a gift to us to know that our King is with us, in the middle of our normal and our mundane. He weaves Himself in our humanity and our process and loves us into Who He created us to be. His Presence is the gift we always need, the comfort we are after and the adventure our hearts were created for.

My encouragement to us is to slow down enough to find Him. My hope is that we can become so sensitive to His abiding Presence that if He breathes in a direction, we are aware and adjust our lives to be in step with Him. My prayer is that we would meet this Jesus afresh today and in meeting Him, every aspect of our lives would testify of His loving Presence.

A Savior, yes. A Shepherd, of course. Both Lion and the Lamb. But He came as Immanuel. And His Presence speaks volumes over our seasons-- I am God with you and I am the God Who wants to be with you.

Immanuel, Thank You that You came to be with us. Thank You that Your Presence is our constant gift. Your precious Holy Spirit reminds us day after day that You are always near and always accessible. Thank You for such a priceless treasure. Please make us more aware of Your wonderful Spirit in every area of our lives!