O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Notes
Transcript
Immanuel, This word or title is actually somewhat rare in scripture. In fact, it is only found in three passages. 2x in Isaiah and only once in Matthew. Matthew was merely quoting Isaiah. Yet this title is profoud yet perplexing.
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
It will pour into Judah,
flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;
and its flooded banks
will fill your entire land, Immanuel!
See, the virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will name him Immanuel,
which is translated “God is with us.”
I. A question about the name
I. A question about the name
In J. Vernon Magee’s through the Bible series he ask the following question. Can you remember anywhere in the accounts of Jesus life that the Messiah was actually called by this name?
We see him called Rabbi, teacher, prophet and the Christ. Yet throughout the scriptures we never see someone actually address Jesus as Emmanuel. The closest we get to this occasion is Matthews gospel account and Matthew was only quoting Isaiah. So then was the prophecy wrong?
Often times in the Old Testament we see this pattern. A person is given a name and that person becomes the meaning of that name. The name Jacob means “He grasp the heal” which is a Jewish idiom for “deceiver”. So we see that Jacob became Jacob by deceiving his father into blessing him instead of Esau.
Now when we come this prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 we can properly understand it. Jesus had not yet been born. So the prophet Isaiah is telling us the significance of His birth. He is giving us a glimpse of who this Jesus would be. He was God in the flesh. The prophet was not telling us his earthly name, but rather what was significant enough about Jesus to be born from a virgin. He was giving us a glimpse of who this special child would be. He would be Immanuel, God with us.
II. The Significance of this prophecy.
II. The Significance of this prophecy.
Between the New and Old Testament four hundred years had past. During this time there are no recorded prophets. The nation of Isreal due to their rebellion had been exiled and dispersed. No doubt they had doubts about weather God had abandoned them.
Have you ever wondered if God has abandoned you do to your circumstances or maybe even self-inflicted wounds? I think this is a common feeling.
I remember when one of my children were young we were out shopping. I would regularly have to remind this child to follow me, to stay with me. Like children often do, this child got distracted by something and wandered off toward a toy or a book .
So to teach the child a lesson I decided to move just out of sight of the child. I could see the child but the child could not see me. Then I just stood back and waited. After a minute or so the child looked up from what he or she was doing. The child’s head began to swivel back and forth, frontward and back ward looking for me. I could begin to see the child starting to panic. The child’s face looked frantic. It is then when I stepped out into view.
I was never really gone but I had hidden myself from view. Why would I do that? Was I just being cruel? Of course not, I was trying to create felt need to obey my instructions in the future. I was trying to create a felt need for the child to stay by my side. Not to cause pain but rather to avoid it in the future.
When we decide to go our own way and we no longer sense the presence of God. This is not God’s wrath but rather his correction. Sometimes the best thing God can do for us is to be silent. To create in a us a frantic need for his presence. It is in this panic that we cry out God I need you! Do you see what he has done? He has created in you a renewal for his ways and for Him.
Maybe you are in a period where you feel very keenly the silence of God. I would encourage you to ask the question why? Why is God being silent. Have you been neglecting his ways and been living in stubborn disobedience? Or maybe you have just taken his presence for granted and have not really been seeking him like you used to .
No matter where you are at let me encourage you to turn to God and remember “Immanuel God is with us!” Seek him out turn from your sin and when he deems best. He will once again reveal his presence to you.
It is when God appears to have abandoned us that we must abandon ourselves most wholly to God.
François Fénelon
This is the significance of Isaiah prophecy. The children of Israel had forgotten their God. They had been warned over and over again to return. Yet they would not listen. So God created for them a desperate situation.
He allowed them to be conquered and reconquered. They would be forced to live under pagan rule. Under the power of foreign gods.
It is in this situation that they returned to the law.
When Jesus came onto the scene there was a large adherence to the law of God among Jewish people. The pharisees were started in the right direction. They emphasized the ways of God. Yet just like many influential leaders in our day pride eventually distorts the message and the messenger.
But none-the-less God in his timing became man for us. While the pharisees had misplaced zeal. God had created in the world a longing for his presence once again. God’s presence was once again made manifest in the world through Jesus Christ birth.
By the time Christ came on the scene there was longing for the long-awaited savior. There was a realization that this isn’t the way things are supposed to be. It was then that Jesus Christ appeared.
Church family, I believe that we will find a similar experience when Jesus returns. In fact, I would tell you that by God’s people this longing for him even now is increasing.
When you look at this very broken world where we often wonder” What in the world is God doing? Why does it seem like evil is rampant.
In fact the Psalmist ask these same questions in
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his Anointed One:
“Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.”
Isn’t this a description of our world today.
Let’s throw of these chains. I can be whatever I want, Boys can be girls, girls boys or in some cases even an animal. I can sleep with whomever I want. I will not be bound by the natural processes. If I have a child and its inconvenient, I will dispose of it. I am free from the chains of God’s created order. I am free from the chains of God’s natural and moral law.
Our World rulers in the UN plot out their agenda against the Lord. Then we who sit in pews of the church, often feel discouraged, anxious, and even frightened. Just when we think all is lost...
Immanuel - God with us.
Look at the next few verses of Psalm 2.
The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them.
Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath:
“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession.
You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.”
So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling.
Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.
III. Future Implications
III. Future Implications
Because Jesus became man we can rest assure that he will never leave us.
Now remember last week when we mentioned that everyone has in their heart a natural longing for the Garden of Eden. The place where God walks with mankind.
We see that mankind was exiled from this type of relationship with God. We have been wandering around in the wilderness of this world because of sin.
Yet Jesus came. His presence has been restored. Those who will turn to Him in repentence and believe the Good news will find him, as the Psalmist said, a refuge from this wold.
When you obey him and walk with him as a Christian his presence is then felt. When we stray from his commands his presence is still there but yet we feel as if something is missing. But rest assured- Immanuel - God is with us.
Listen to these scriptures that were given to us from God with the understanding we walk in a sin-cursed world.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Notice that the bold assurance of God’s presence is felt most closely through obedience.
Psalm 94:14 (CSB)
The Lord will not leave his people or abandon his heritage,
Jesus both came and is coming. His presence is both here and he is coming. His kingdom is both here and is coming. Immanuel- God is with us.
For the believer we rejoice at the words of the prophets. Our future is sure, our future is bright, our world will be restored and we will dwell with God forever.
Immanuel - God with us.