14 December

Immanuel: God is with us

“All of this occurred to fulfill 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 is with us.’” Matt 1:22-23

The God of the universe, who created it and sustains it, would now come down into it. But not as the highest, strongest and most powerful, but as the smallest, weakest and lowliest. A tiny, helpless, completely dependent baby, to be precise. 

And Isaiah foretold it some seven hundred years previously.

God was not coming to earth (this time) on the clouds with trumpets announcing his arrival. Instead, he arrived through the birth canal of an ordinary young woman who simply said ‘yes’ to the Lord via an angelic messenger.

And then, there he was. In a swaddle. The enormity of the God of the universe in a tiny, hungry, squirming, nappy-filling baby.

That truth alone is a such a wondrous mystery. That when God, Immanuel, came to save those who had sinned against him, he did not arrive with the fanfare of nobility, but into the very arms of those he came to save. 

Hallelujah! God be praised! What a reason to be merry this Christmas!

Zoe Wheeler