On this Easter Sunday, my daily readings have brought me to Matthew 1. I saw a little note in my Bible App entitled “The Immanuel Principle.”
The wonder of “God with us” is a precious aspect of the Christmas story, and the Christian life. Jesus Christ is God the Son Himself, clothed with flesh, and he came to this world and lived among us. We should not take this for granted. Jesus is different to the mythological gods who dwelt in heaven and who intervened from afar. Nor does he fit the perspective of those who invent or effectively worship small earthbound gods such as money or fame. Nor does he allow us to buy the lie that everything is god.
No, he is truly God; he is truly Man. He is separate from his creation, yet he truly came to his creation – to this earth to live and die and defeat death. Now, the man Christ Jesus is seated at God’s right hand and intercedes for us.
At the same time, the name Immanuel fulfils a promise. The regular phrase that God uses in the Old Testament is “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” In Genesis 17:7, he promises to be God to Abraham’s descendants. In Leviticus 26:12, “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” In Ezekiel 37:27, “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God and they will be my people.”
Finally, we see the consumation in Revelation 21:3, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with people. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
This itself is the Garden of Eden restored and improved. In Genesis 3:8, Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day. The implication here is that fellowship with God was the norm in Eden, a norm which was shattered by human sin and subsequent banishment. The tragedy is reversed in heaven – once more, the dwelling of God is with people. The means of that reversal is the coming of God to earth – God the Son is our Immanuel.
God the Son came, clothed in flesh, fully human and yet fully God, and lives a perfect life. He presents that perfect, spotless life to his Father on the cross, and then defeats the enemy of death through the resurrection. Now ascended and alive forevermore (Revelation 1:18), he brings all who believe into fellowship with him now (notice Jesus standing amid the lampstands, Revelation 1:13) and forever.
The initiative is all his (and not ours). In Eden, Adam and Eve hid. Humanity has continued to hide and/or usurp God ever since, hiding behind our activity or our religion. If left to themselves in Eden, fallen Adam and Eve would have continued to hide, but God called out “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9).
If we had been left to ourselves now, we would remain going our own way. But Immanuel has come, as one of us and yet fully God, to transform our rebellious hearts and minds and to draw us to desire his presence once again. In Eden restored, there will be no desire to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). All his people (those who have embraced Immanuel) will be face to face with him with unadulterated joy and pleasure, declaring, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10)
Immanuel is not just for Christmas; Immanuel is for Easter and every day; Immanuel is the heart of God’s plan and the ultimate purpose for the universe. Have you responded to Immanuel? Believe Him.