Reference! God With Us

An elderly Christian was in much distress as he lay dying. “Oh, Pastor,” he said, “for years I have relied upon the promises of God, but now in the hour of death I can’t remember a single one to comfort me.” Knowing that Satan was disturbing him, the preacher said, “My brother, do you think that GOD will forget any of His promises?” A smile came over the face of the dying believer as he exclaimed joyfully. “No, no! He won’t! Praise the Lord, now I can fall asleep in Jesus and trust Him to remember them all and bring me safely to Heaven.” Peace flooded his soul, and a short time later he was ushered by the angels into the light of God’s eternal day. —Our Daily Bread

—Our Daily Bread

Because God is with us we have assurances of His Promises, either for salvation or judgment.

As we examine () ‘God with us’ seems to be a two-edged sign: God is with his people for salvation, and he is with his people in judgment. Depending upon one’s disposition toward God, the sign of Immanuel either threatens or reassures.

In the Immanuel passage Ahaz is rebuked for refusing to ask for a sign from his God: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?’ (v. 13). The king’s refusal to ask for a sign reveals his lack of faith, and this lack of faith will bring disaster upon the ‘house of David’. ...The Immanuel sign (vv. 14–17), ...God will prove that he is truly with his people, but because Ahaz has sought Assyria’s protection, and not God’s, God will also bring destruction (through Assyria; see also 8:5–8)

King Ahaz refused to believe God’s promise. If he had trusted the Lord, he would have broken his alliance with Assyria and led the people to seek the Lord for deliverance. But Ahaz was an unbeliever, a leader who put his total trust in the arm of the flesh, the power of military alliances.

REFERENCE! The Lord’s presence will deliver us.

REFERENCE! If we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and walk in His righteousness, we can call upon Him for deliverance.

REFERENCE! A victorious life—triumphing over all enemies—is the promise given us through Jesus Christ.

The significance of Immanuel

God is with his people (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; )

(ESV) — 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

(ESV) — 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have

God dwells with his people ( ; ; )

Revelation 21:3 (ESV) — 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

(ESV) — 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

(ESV) — 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

(ESV) — 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(ESV) — 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jesus Christ is always with believers (; ; ; ; ; )

(ESV) — 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

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(ESV) — 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

(ESV) — 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

(ESV) — 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

(ESV) — 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Jesus Christ is always with believers

The Holy Spirit is always with believers (; ; ; ; ; )

The Holy Spirit is always with believers

(ESV) — 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.