He Shall Be Called …
This week we are starting a new series called “He shall be called…” We will be looking at the names given to Jesus before His birth, over the weeks leading up to Christmas. We need to understand that these names weren’t literal names, but rather reflections of His character. This isn’t uncommon even in our own culture. I’m sure you know some folks who might have nicknames like “Shorty” or “Slim”; there is a reason they are given names like this because it is a reflection of their person. The same thing is happening with the names we will be examining over the next coming weeks. We are going to start with the name “Immanuel”.
Immanuel
Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:18-23
The first time we see the name “Immanuel” mentioned in scripture is in a prophecy from the prophet Isaiah. At the time, the King of Judah, King Ahaz, was scared because the King of Syria and the King of Israel had joined together to conquer Judah. God sent Isaiah to encourage Ahaz, but Ahaz refused to listen so Isaiah was given this prophecy.
Isaiah 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
This prophecy was given not for the present time, but for a future time when the Messiah would come. We see this prophecy fulfilled and recorded in Matthew 1:18-23.
Matthew 1:18-23
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God is with us.”
With the birth of Jesus, God was now with us. What does this really mean for us? What is the significance of Immanuel? In order to answer this we must remove ourselves from our Christian context and mindset to examine this from a different perspective.
The longer we are in a Christian environment we can find ourselves getting comfortable with holy things and we forget how important these events in scripture really were. Let’s try to do that with Immanuel (God being with us) and remove ourselves for a moment from that Christian perspective. In order to do this effectively, we can look at it from an unbeliever's perspective. This isn’t that hard for all we must do is have conversations with those who don’t believe in God. When we have gospel conversations with them we start to see a question that comes up frequently - “How could a good God allow bad things to happen?” In my experience, these types of questions are usually asked from a place of pain and suffering. While we can answer with a theological textbook answer, it still leaves the suffering they are experiencing. When presented with the truth that through the person of Jesus, God is with us, new questions are asked, “I thought that throughout my pain, God was distant, why would God choose to come close?" and "What is God doing in this suffering?”. It’s through this viewpoint we can see the importance of Immanuel in our lives.
God is with us in our weakness. - Hebrew 4:15
15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
Have you ever struggled? I mean struggled with anything, it could be anger, an addiction, gossip, fear, the list goes on and on. All of us have our own weaknesses that we struggle with. When we try to deal with these weaknesses, it’s tough. It can hurt us mentally when we have a hard time controlling it and we can start to feel very isolated because we don’t think anyone understands. Sometimes that is true, but there is someone who always understands and that is Jesus.
Jesus was 100% man and 100% God. He doesn’t understand from a position on the outside, but He actually was in the situations and experienced the trials that we have - He understands. It’s like picking a parenting book. You are much more likely to get good advice from someone who has kids and is an expert in the field than someone who is an expert alone. It’s because they can empathize with you. They have been there and done that. They know the struggles and that can mean the world to someone who is suffering. They really know the struggles that you are going through. Immanuel knows.
God is with us in our shame. – John 8:1-11
1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
We are all sinful creatures, and we still have a little bit of those sinful tendencies left over even after we are saved. Now we are not slaves to that sinful nature, but it is still present. Paul said, “The things I want to do I don’t do, and the things I don’t want to do, I do.” It’s a problem that has been going on since the first Christians in the first century. When we do sin after we become Christians, it’s clear in scripture that we are to come to God and confess those sins and turn from them. There is something that comes along with sin and keeps us from being made right with God that both Christians and non-Christians alike experience and that’s shame.
Shame is an experience of painful humiliation we participate in when we sin. It’s something we want to hide, and we try to get away from. As in the case of this woman caught in adultery, we see that not only was she caught in a sin, but it was now on display for all to see. The punishment that was coming might literally cost her everything. Regardless of her situation, Immanuel was there. He was there and He was not condemning her. He lovingly corrected her in front of everyone while He taught these hypocritical Pharisees a lesson. Notice He was right there by the woman's side the entire time - during this whole time of shame and fear. He confronted her sin. He had to for God is holy and sin in any form can not be tolerated in His presence. He gave her a second chance. Right when it looked like there was no hope for her, she was about to face the consequences of her sin, Jesus was there with her to pick her up, confront the sin, and give her another chance. Under the old covenant, there would have been no hope for this woman, but because of Immanuel, she could face tomorrow. Jesus does the same with us. How many second chances has God given you in your life?
God is with us in sickness and loss. – John 11:35
35 Then Jesus wept
“Life isn’t fair.” For Christians that’s a “Praise the Lord" moment, but for those on the outside, it’s a bitter and harsh moment. Life doesn’t always go how we think it should - sickness comes at very inopportune times, death is no respecter of people, and we often wonder why.
When I’m faced with this same question in my own mind, this is the scripture I always come back to. Jesus’ friend had just died, and Jesus was being blamed somewhat for his death due to His delay in getting to Lazarus’ house. Jesus knew and even said that Lazarus was dead, but there was a reason for it. Jesus knew what was about to happen in that place. In the place of pain and suffering there would be joy, but still, Jesus wept. Jesus was hurting because those He loved were hurting. It didn’t matter that He knew this was going to happen, or that He knew Lazurus would be back before supper time. Jesus hurts when we hurt, but there is another issue here that deals with the suffering that we question and experience in life and that’s HOPE.
It is only because of Immanuel that we have hope. Jesus came to be a part of the suffering that our sin created. He had to, not because He was made to, but because He loves us so. This is one of the only ways the problem of pain can be reconciled and that is with the Hope found in Jesus Christ. We have a God who just didn’t stand back. Rather He came and experienced all this brokenness with us. He made a way for the brokenness to be healed. It’s only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we have this hope. A hope that is laid out for us in Revelation 21:3-4 when those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will experience no more pain, no more crying, and no more sorrow. It’s that hope that we cling to. It’s the assurance that gets us through and it can only be found because God is with us. Immanuel.
