God With Us
The bible describes the birth of Jesus like this…
All of this occurred to fulfil the Lord’s message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God with us.”’ (Matthew 1:22-23).
Back in 1997, when Princess Diana was killed in a car accident, you may recall that there was a backlash against the Royal Family. The Queen belatedly appeared on television to express her remorse, but because she hadn’t got on with Diana during her life, nothing she said was convincing. The comments of the people in the street were most telling. One said, “The Royals don’t know how we live, and they don’t care.” Another said, “They’ve been isolated in their palace so long that they don’t understand the common people.” Still another said, “The Royals never come among us. They’re totally detached and preoccupied with their riches.”
Because of Christmas, we can’t say any of those things about God. He is not some detached royal who doesn’t know or care how we live. He came to earth in the form of a person. His Christmas wrapping was not paper and tinsel, but human flesh. His name, Immanuel, means, “God with us.”
In Jesus, God has lived among us, meaning that there is no feeling we can experience, no situation that we can encounter, no hurdle we have to overcome, that God doesn’t understand. He went through the loneliness of the Garden of Gethsemane, betrayal and abandonment at the Mount of Olives, grief at the death of his friend Lazarus, temptation in the wilderness, the joy of the wedding at Cana, the pain of seeing his mother suffer while he hung on the cross, not to mention his own agonizing death. You cannot tell me that God doesn’t understand us, because whatever we might be going through, God has been there first.
Not only has he been there, but he will not let us face life alone. In the embrace of family and friends, God is there. In the suffering of children who are the victims of violence, God is there. No night is so dark that God’s light cannot shine. No place is so barren, that he cannot bring new life. No person is so lost or weak that they cannot be found and healed. Know this about God – because of Christmas, he is with us.
Neil Percival
All of this occurred to fulfil the Lord’s message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God with us.”’ (Matthew 1:22-23).
Back in 1997, when Princess Diana was killed in a car accident, you may recall that there was a backlash against the Royal Family. The Queen belatedly appeared on television to express her remorse, but because she hadn’t got on with Diana during her life, nothing she said was convincing. The comments of the people in the street were most telling. One said, “The Royals don’t know how we live, and they don’t care.” Another said, “They’ve been isolated in their palace so long that they don’t understand the common people.” Still another said, “The Royals never come among us. They’re totally detached and preoccupied with their riches.”
Because of Christmas, we can’t say any of those things about God. He is not some detached royal who doesn’t know or care how we live. He came to earth in the form of a person. His Christmas wrapping was not paper and tinsel, but human flesh. His name, Immanuel, means, “God with us.”
In Jesus, God has lived among us, meaning that there is no feeling we can experience, no situation that we can encounter, no hurdle we have to overcome, that God doesn’t understand. He went through the loneliness of the Garden of Gethsemane, betrayal and abandonment at the Mount of Olives, grief at the death of his friend Lazarus, temptation in the wilderness, the joy of the wedding at Cana, the pain of seeing his mother suffer while he hung on the cross, not to mention his own agonizing death. You cannot tell me that God doesn’t understand us, because whatever we might be going through, God has been there first.
Not only has he been there, but he will not let us face life alone. In the embrace of family and friends, God is there. In the suffering of children who are the victims of violence, God is there. No night is so dark that God’s light cannot shine. No place is so barren, that he cannot bring new life. No person is so lost or weak that they cannot be found and healed. Know this about God – because of Christmas, he is with us.
Neil Percival