Matthew 1:22-23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” –which means, “God with us” (NIV).
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (NIV).
Fitting that Matthew tells us the prophecy from Isaiah, since we learned last week the angel of the Lord said Jesus would forgive people of sins. He is showing Jesus had the authority to forgive sins, since He was Immanuel.
A big champion of what we now call The Nicene Creed was a church leader named Athanasius. The scholar Dr. Chris Hall clearly explained in his book Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers that Athanasius refuted Arius with two key statements, the first being the fact salvation can come only from God. Dr. Hall stated: “The Arian Christ, Athanasius insisted, could save no one. No creature possessed the ability or prerogative to save from sin.” (1)
Radically, the prophet Isaiah was saying in the 8th century, long before the birth of Jesus, the Messiah would be God!
The picture on a Christmas card this year from my dad and step-mom is an old worn down barn next to a rolling field with low mountains in the distance. An inch or two of snow covers the ground, and the sky is covered with clouds. The photo was apparently taken near the Appalachian range of Pennsylvania, and reminds me of the Appalachian region in Virginia I am so fond of. It looks really cold, yet I know that in mid-Appalachia, winters move on in due time.
Having lived in Colorado for twenty-one of the past twenty-three years, the winters wear on me more as the years go by. I miss the east coast where I grew up. Though Colorado is not my climate of choice, I am thankful to live here now, because there are people here who love me. For me, joy and peace comes not from a place, rather from who you are with.
So even though I have had numerous rough circumstances ever since coming to Colorado to do ministry work, I have had joy and peace consistently, because all along God has been with me. Sometimes, problems come in just like a winter storm in Colorado, and God seems hidden. Sometimes God seems to be nowhere around. Sometimes joy and peace seems elusive. Yet God who is unseen is God who became a human being, beginning like all humans, as a baby. There in the manager was Immanuel, which means “God with us.” Jesus is still here today through the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all people who have given their heart to Him, and Jesus is speaking through Scripture which He inspired for humanity to learn from Him.
Here on this fourth Sunday of Advent of 2020, in the midst of a long hard pandemic season, we can trust the revelation of Scripture that Jesus remains “God with us.”
Hunter
Question for pondering: When do you feel closest to God?
- Take some prayer time. Talk with God about your needs and your hopes for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day upcoming this week.
(1) Christopher Hall, Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 60.
