Immanuel 2025
Luke's Christmas 2025 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The angels aren’t mentioned in the creation account in Genesis 1, but the first verse of the Bible indicates that God created everything. Most likely the angels were created long before our world, and they probably got to watch Divinity create us. They saw Adam and Eve in their perfection, and they saw them in their sin.
One angel in particular is mentioned by name—Gabriel. We find Gabriel for the first time in Daniel chapter 8 and 9. In his first appearance, Gabriel is called to make Daniel understand the vision of the 2,300 days. And then Gabriel comes back to answer a prayer from Daniel in chapter 9. It was Gabriel who introduced a prophecy that pinpointed the year that the Messiah would come onto the stage to save mankind. We studied this in a recent Daniel’s Story sermon series, so we won’t dive too deep.
“Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself…
This amazing prophecy is one of dozens of prophecies that point to Jesus as the savior of mankind.
Can you imagine being Gabriel?
Seeing the fall of mankind.
Wondering how God would save mankind.
Excited to hear every new prophecy that God gave to Israel like the prophecy of a star in Bethlehem that He gave to the prophet Balaam, and the promise that he gave to Isaiah that it would be a virgin who would bear this promised child.
Finally, we find Gabriel in Luke chapter 1, telling Mary about Jesus. Let’s read it.
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Now, imagine Gabriel describing Jesus to Mary—Son of the Most High, King on the throne of David, Reigning forever, with a kingdom that has no end.
He wanted to make sure there was no question as to who this child would be.
Have you ever noticed that the Christmas story in the Bible is filled with all kinds of names for this child?
The given name of this child was Jesus.
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Jesus comes from the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua.
You might remember Joshua as the man who took over leading Israel after Moses. In Numbers 13 we find that the name his parents gave him was Hoshea, which is the same name as the one of the minor prophets, Hosea, and it means Salvation. But as soon as Moses noticed Hoshea he gave him a nickname and added the “Ya” sound to make it Y’hoshua, which means Yahweh is Salvation.
After Israel came back from exile in Babylon, they adopted a shortened, Aramaic form of the name, Yeshua.
For over a hundred years Greece ruled the world, and even when Rome conquered Greece, the Greek language remained the predominant form of communicating. The Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek about 200 years before Gabriel came to see Mary. Greek didn’t have the “sh” sound that Hebrew did and it didn’t have any version of the letter “y”, so when they translated Yeshua it ended up being transliterated into Iesous.
The latin version of Iesous was Iesus. Then the “I” turned into a “J” when it was transliterated into the English, Jesus.
I’ve had conversations with many people who think that we should be calling Jesus by his Hebrew name, Y’hoshua or his Aramaic name, Yeshua. But that’s neither necessary nor practical.
Names morph as they travel through languages—they take on different spellings or pronunciations—but one thing remains the same—the meaning.
The name Joshua comes from smashing two words together — Yahweh, the personal name for God, and the Hebrew word schevá (shw’) which means “a cry for help.” The ancient meaning for Jesus is “God is our help.”
If there is anything that Gabriel wants us to understand it’s that Jesus IS God himself.
Matthew quoted the prophet Isaiah when he said this in Matthew 1:23
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
The point in Isaiah and Matthew is not that Jesus’ given name would be Immanuel, but that he IS Immanuel—God with us. Back in Luke the Angel told Mary that Jesus would be great—a king whose rule would never end. It says that he would be called the Son of God.
In Isaiah 9:6 Isaiah elaborated on the name even more—or should I say names?—of this child:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Look at these names!
He is the Mighty God. How else could God be our help unless He is mighty?
He is the Everlasting Father, and we are his children. A father who ever lives to provide for and care for and comfort and lead us.
He is our Wonderful Counselor—the greatest of all teachers.
He is the Prince of Peace—the only way that we can experience peace in our lives.
The story of Christmas is that the mighty God of our help, the counselor to all our problems, the father and source of our life, came to live as one of us.
And, just to make sure we understood that this was no ordinary baby, God made sure that He would be born to a young woman who had never been with a man—a virgin. And because that seemed too incredible for even Mary to comprehend, the angel, Gabriel, said this:
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
When we hear the Christmas story, and truly understand that this helpless little baby was and is the God of our creation and redemption, we should respond exactly like Mary did:
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Because God came to earth and became the baby Jesus, and because the baby grew into the only righteous man, and because this God/Man gave his life in place of yours and mine, we can call out to him as our mighty God of Help, our tender and compassionate father, our counselor, comforter and prince of peace. We can tell him all our joys and sorrows. We can trust our lives into his care, and surrender every dollar, every minute, and every thought to His control.
This is why Christmas is a merry time of the year—because it’s the time when we remember that there is a Savior who has come to help us, and his name is Jesus Christ, the Lord or lords and the King of kings.
And the story of Jesus’ names continues even after his birth.
In Revelation 1 Jesus says of Himself
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
To all of Jesus’ names and attributes, He adds this strong sense of hope. He is not only the God who gives us peace and help, but he is the God of the beginning and the end. He is the god who always has been, and He is the God who will come again.
In the very last chapter of the last book of the Bible Jesus said,
“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.”
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
And finally, as if the first two times weren’t enough, Jesus says in Revelation 22:20
He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
John, the author of Revelation, was looking forward to Jesus’ soon return, and he says, “AMEN!” Come, Lord Jesus!”
The story of Christmas isn’t just that Jesus brought peace on earth by being born, or reconciled you and I to God by dying on the cross and rising from the dead, but also that He is coming again to take us to live with Him forever.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
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While you aren’t likely to have an angel come to introduce Jesus to you like Gabriel did for Mary, today I have been God’s angel—God’s messenger—to introduce you to Jesus.
If you haven’t already, I’d like to encourage you to accept Jesus as the Lord of your life. He would love for you to say, yes, to His invitation to help you and give you peace, and one day soon to go home and live with Him forever.
I hope you say, yes. It would make my Christmas season very merry and bright, and I know that all heaven will be happy too—even Gabriel.
Because you are in church, it’s very likely that you’ve heard this story over and over again. Maybe for you the significance of Christ’s birth has been deepened by exploring the many names of Jesus. Which one stood out to you the most? Which of God’s many qualities do you need right now? Do you need a counselor, a powerful helper, a loving and engaged father, or maybe you just need to know that God is indeed with you.
Let Jesus be your everything and this season will truly be merry and bright.
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Please stand with me as we sing a song about Angels and Joy.
pray for food
Mention worship through giving
