Immanuel - God is with us

Matthew 1:23 ‘“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”’ (NKJV)

Isaiah 7:14 ‘“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”’ (NKJV)

Judges 6:12-13 ‘And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour!” Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”’ (NKJV)

Philippians 2:13-14 ‘Therefore, my beloved … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure.’ (NKJV)

One of the things people come with for counselling and prayer is that things are not working out in their life; they seem to be always going to work out, and then something comes down and stops them. It is so frustrating when our life is in the hands of the Midianites like that, and it can happen to God’s good people.

It can make us feel that some sort of spiritual warfare has overtaken us and that we are helpless against it. The Gideon in us asks, ‘How can we say God is with us, when it seems more as if He has abandoned us?’

Paul says we have to work out our salvation. It is not enough to say Jesus has saved us; we also have to work out our salvation on a daily basis. Jesus is our Saviour every day. We have to bring salvation into those difficult areas and overcome those blockages.

Working out our salvation does not mean we have to do it all ourselves. I am not my own saviour. If I am looking for salvation in any area of my life, there is only one place I can go for salvation, and that is to Jesus. I have to ask Jesus to be Saviour in that particular situation.

The angel called Gideon a mighty man of valour, and he says in verse 14:

“Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” (NKJV)

Gideon was the least in his tribe, a small tribe, but the angel called him a mighty man of valour because God was with him. If Jesus is your Saviour, Immanuel, God-with-us, you are that mighty man or woman of valour. God is in that might of yours and God will save you from the hands of the Midianites.

Isaiah 63:1 gives an insight into how Jesus makes us mighty in valour; it is because He himself who is with us is that mighty man of valour.

‘Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red?

Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength?

It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation! It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!’ (NLT)

On Christmas day, we celebrate the birth of Jesus with a Mass, or Eucharist, at which we remember the death of Jesus. The message is the same, whether in his birth or in his death: Jesus is Immanuel, God-with-us, and He comes to us with the power to save.

Should I wish you a merry Christmas? In this country, this year, I prefer to say, ‘Have a simple Christmas’. However, if Jesus is truly your Saviour, you can go in that might of yours and have a happy Christmas and a fresh new start for the New Year.