The Name
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Intro
Intro
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
Israel was a divided nation at civil war. The King Ahaz to the south tried to remain faithful to the LORD. The North made alliances with the Assyrians—the biggest enemies of the Jews.
Ahaz was wavering in his faith, not sure that God would deliver His people Israel.
Immanuel means ‘God with us,’ which is an ancient way of saying, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” (REF)
For Ahaz, Immanuel meant, maybe we will win this war.
Which of us is not at war? What war do you wage that you need to hear that your God is with you? Who here needs to hear Immanuel!, God is with you?
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!
Isaiah says that the Assyrians will flood into Judah, filling the entire land.
This terrifying scene caused the prophet Isaiah to exclaim the LORD’s name, Immanuel!
He means something like, “Oh my God” or “God save us” when he shouts, “Immanuel!” or “God with us!”
King Ahaz and Judah with him had become faithless and for their lack of faith—not their disobedience, not their sin, not their doubt, not their bad decisions—but for their faithlessness, God will allow Assyria to demolish Judah.
You have been there—all of life is about to come crashing in around you and you cry out for God’s rescue, you cry out Immanuel.
But it’s for salvation you cry out.
It’s not for love of God, for loyalty to God, not for the pleasure of being in the presence of God, but to get away from what ails you.
ILL: It’s like the person who speeds everywhere you drive, hoping the cops never show up to give a ticket—all-the while knowing that if you encounter danger, you have to call those same cops to come and save you.
Judah didn’t really want God, they wanted what God could give them—rescue from their enemies.
Question: Do you seek Jesus for what He can do for you? Or much like you pursued your first young love, do you seek Jesus because you simply want Jesus to be with you?
REMOVE MATTHEW? (Maybe just loosely ref in the passage.)
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.”
The disciple Matthew, reflecting on the message of Isaiah and reflecting on the man Jesus, connects these dots: Immanuel is Jesus.
The promise the LORD made through Isaiah, came to an ultimate fulfilment—not in Judah being rescued from the Assyrians, but in all of God’s people being rescued, eternally from sin and sins consequences. That’s something Jesus did.
The promise of Jesus as Immanuel
People could talk to Jesus
People were taught by Jesus
People hung out with Jesus
People shared meals with Jesus
You could touch Jesus
There’s a reason that the only religion that has an all powerful God who also is Immanuel, with us, is the Judeo-Christian religion.
For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
WC, MG, EF, PoP are all OT allusions to God.
There is confusion by many that Jesus IS the Father, but that misses the point.
The point is that the God of the OT came in human form and was given to humankind.
This God/man will be like us and yet, all governments will be under his authority—the authority that belongs to the all-mighty creator God.
The ancient world is a place where you can go here or there and choose the god you want to worship.
This God/man is the God of the OT
The offense of Christianity is that Jesus is above all human and divine authority (KoK, LoL, GoG).
If you can go choose your own god, then your god is at your own whim and will. It’s not a very powerful god.
But, if Jesus is God, then you really have no choice about who you worship and who you serve.
Jesus isn’t an advisor or a Jeanie (flesh those out), but one who in every way knows what is best for you and becomes, not just your counselor, but the WC who always provides the best, most wonderful counsel.
Jesus isn’t a Jeanie, he’s the mighty God and God of gods.
Because he’s one with the Father, he is also prince of peace, because Jesus works to bring about the Father’s will: eternal peace with God.
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The Name, Immanuel: God with us (God’s presence) doesn’t just mean Jesus is our friend, helper or advisor. It means he is one who enlightens and deliverers.
Immanuel from Isaiah, Emmanuel Matthew
, Jesus comes to open the eyes of the blind and rescue captives. (sitting in darkness in the prison house—blind and captive are the same issue)
Three implications of Immanuel, God with us
He is God (majestic, powerful, transcendent)
He is Man (to see the face of God is to invite holy judgment)
He is with us (judgment is dealt with so He can be with us)
Decades ago I heard a talk at a Christian conference center on turning our lives over to Christ and doing his will, not our own. Two questions were put to us. First, are you willing to obey anything the Bible clearly says to do, whether you like it or not? Second, are you willing to trust God in anything he sends into your life, whether you understand it or not? If you can’t answer these two questions in the affirmative, we were told, you may believe in Jesus in some general way, but you have never said to him, “I am the Lord’s servant.” Those questions were startling to me, but to this day I believe they are accurate indicators of what Christians are being asked for. Another talk at that conference helped me do what I call the “theological grounding” for this kind of service to God. The woman who spoke said, “If the distance between the Earth and the sun—ninety-three million miles—was no more than the thickness of a sheet of paper, then the distance from the Earth to the nearest star would be a stack of papers seventy feet high; the diameter of the Milky Way would be a stack of paper over three hundred miles high. Keep in mind that there are more galaxies in the universe than we can number. There are more, it seems, than dust specks in the air or grains of sand on the seashores. Now, if Jesus Christ holds all this together with just a word of his power ()—is he the kind of person you ask into your life to be your assistant?” That simple logic shattered my resistance to doing what Mary did. Yes, if he really is like that, how can I treat him as a consultant rather than as Supreme Lord? (Keller)
Keller, Timothy. Hidden Christmas (p. 91). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Audience: Needs to see God as bigger than they do
Question: Why did Jesus have to come to earth? Why does Jesus have to be human? Why God not just man? Why was this such a huge issue to the early Christians?
Intro
Intro
Jesus holds the universe together by the word of his power (). ILL: Paper stacks
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Hebrews 1
1 paper = earth to sun
70’ stack = earth to next star
diameter of the milky way = 300 mile high stack
there are more galaxies than we can count or accurately estimate (at least 100 billion)
Incredible power and authority to hold it all together
Authority changes the way we relate: Can’t call Trump on the phone
NAMES
Names tell us a lot about authority
President Trump
Governor Newsom
Father and Mother
Jesus has the name 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.”
Ultimate Authority: God
Ultimate Humility: With Us
SIDE NOTE: Authority figures (Kings, Presidents, Parents, etc.) are supposed to be servants of the people they rule.
The greatest authority comes with the greatest act of humility.
God with us
Matthew is quoting
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
Context — civil war with the North who sided with Assyria, Israel’s enemy
God with us means insight — King Ahaz was was wavering in his faith
God with us means deliverance — In the OT, “If God is with us, who can be against us” is a wartime concept.
In the NT () Paul uses the phrase in a spiritual sense.
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
No one can condemn you if you have been delivered from sin (not enemies) by Jesus.
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 8
affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword
Circumstances in life are not reasons for someone to question your faith or condemn you
“affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword”
Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .
There’s a false teaching that is prevalent today that if you aren’t succeeding in life that it’s because of a lack of faith.
Paul teaches the opposite: an incredible act of faith is your perseverance in spite of affliction, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, or danger, even if you face death.
The baby in the manger ()
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
Remember, the greatest authority also means the greatest humility.
baby (cf. )
Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,
Jesus emptied himself
Jesus took on the form of the servant (not a human, but one who would serve humans)
Jesus took on the likeness of a human
man (cf. )
Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
He was human so he could die
He died to deliver humans from sin
EXH: Jesus literally became God with us when he was born into this world so that he could die and be spiritually and eternally God with us, forever, Immanuel.
Jesus as advisor, counselor, consultant
Submission to Jesus as Lord, as King, as God (cf. the supreme power of the universe—Immanuel is that big)