Emmanuel: God With Us

It is such a lovely thought .. God with us .. "Emmanuel" is a Hebrew name for God which says "God with us". Isaiah prophesied that Emmanuel would come to save the Jewish people. Matthew recognised that Jesus was that Messiah (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew1:23). Hallelujah! He is come! He is with us!
 

Back at the very beginning of history God created Adam and Eve, the first humans. He immediately established close and loving relations with them; they helped God in the Garden during the day, keeping it and stewarding its resources, then in the evenings they would fellowship together.
 
Since the Fall, when sin separated humankind from God, people have been seeking a god with whom he or she could find favour and relate.
 
The Creator God of Heaven was always there, but most people looked, (and many still look to this day), for another god who fits their image of what they want in their deity. Our Bibles tell about so many gods who are not our God. These gods usually demand costly sacrifice and religious obedience from their people but do not respond with intimacy or a loving relationship or a glorious future. Neither do they have the authority or power of our God who gives us miraculous help then great testimony of His working amongst us.
 
Often our hearts know that we need God. For me this is a need for Jesus my Saviour and Redeemer. This is very practical - Christians can know God's presence in the here and now. Jesus once walked the roads ministering to the people. He worked intimately with His twelve disciples and with the crowds who came to see and hear Him; they "marveled" (John 7:15) and "were amazed" (Matthew 7:28; Luke 2:47) at His "understanding of the Scriptures" (Luke 24:32), of Israel's history (Acts 17:26), and of the miracles He worked among them (John 2:1-12). All this brought to them the "Kingdom of God" (Mark 1:15) which was a term they had not previously known.
 
Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to those who were blind (Luke 7:21), the Bible tells that sometimes "Jesus healed all who came to Him" (Luke 4:40). Remember, Luke was a doctor, he was there, these are strong testimonies!
 
It is so good for us to know that there is coming a time when we will be with Jesus in Heaven, we will all be healed of our ills and sicknesses, be they spiritual, relational or physical.
 
People knew that Jesus was not just "with" them (1 John 1:3), but also "for" them (Romans 4:24) when they saw the many different miracles He performed.
 
When threatened with a great storm Jesus' twelve woke Him because they knew that He alone could help, and He did, He calmed the wind and the waves with the words "Peace! Be still!" (Mark 4:35-41). Often when I pray I will have a key thought and will talk for minutes. Jesus, who is an example to us, was so brief yet God heard Him and answered completely.
 
Praise Jesus, He is still with us, even though He is now ascended to Heaven and seated on His throne with our Father. He is still Emmanuel.
 
More and more these days I hear this name, "Emmanuel". People simply say the name, it is spontaneous .. Someone will begin to sing, and we will all join in:
"Emmanuel, Emmanuel,
"His name is called Emmanuel.
"God with us, revealed in us,
"His name is called Emmanuel". (Bob McGee, 1976)
 

Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer recognised our need to actively participate in this love relationship our God offers us in Jesus:

"Our purpose is to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength' (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30), and to know His glory [Hebrews 2:9]. Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' (John 11:40).
 
"We are to stand, as we are, in love, as a created being before our Creator, by choice, having made the decision to do so. Not as proscribed by some authority [or religious edict], not uniformly, not as cause and effect, simply to love. Not in to the state, the government of where we live. Not in reference to our sexuality. Not in reference to our affluence or our success in the world. Without choice the word 'love' is meaningless. We were designed and purposed to live face to face in a loving relationship with the God who is there.
 
"God has made no evil thing. Evil comes from a choice of the heart. Hindus believe otherwise; they believe that both good and evil come from god/God and are equal. This does not make sense in the light of Jesus' death and resurrection" (1973).
 
Jesus Is Near
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). 
 
".. and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades" (Jesus' words, Revelation 1:18).
 
It is because Jesus is here with us that we can be close with Him, we can choose Him. This song is always sung with great heart:
"I have decided to follow Jesus,
"I have decided to follow Jesus,
"I have decided to follow Jesus,
"No turning back, No turning Back".
Verse 2: "The cross before me, the world behind me .."
Verse 3: "Though none go with me, I still will follow .."
Verse 4: "I have decided to follow Jesus .. " (Simon Marak)
 
Friends In India
A couple in India, now beloved friends, care for widows as part of their ministry. There are many widows nearby and many of those are forgotten and very poor, my friends give food and other practical help and teach skills so the widows can have work and an income for themselves and their children. The widows have lived their lives as Hindus.
 
The wife spoke, woman to women, to them, from Matthew 16:24-28: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me". The Hindus cannot understand the Christians, they say "we serve our gods, we wash religiously before attending to them, we eat or do not eat to please them, every day we prepare offerings for them, just as they demand, and we attend all the ceremonial days and perform in whatever way the gods demand .. But you Christians, you do not ceremonially wash, you do not even go to church unless you want to, we see no sacrifices that you have offered to your God, you are lazy".

My friend replied like this: "But we surrender all of our self, we become children of our Father and give our heart and our life to Him. Our Father and His Son Jesus love us and care for us all the time; we are deeply in relationship, our God is with us, here and now, we are secure with our God and know peace".
 
The widows are amazed, just as were Jesus' followers in ancient Israel (Matthew 7:28), many are finding room in their heart for Jesus, and are finding comfort and peace in Him.
 
(Since I first wrote these words, persecution in India has escalated. My friends are under daily threat, yet they are holding fast to Jesus, (Hebrews 10:23; Revelation 3:10-11), and continue to help these widows and others. Thank you, Jesus for caring for your own).
 
Who God Is
When we look at God's purposes, His nearness can be seen as who He is. God created the Creation so that He could be in community with creatures in His own image and likeness and we could share in his glory.
 
Abraham became the first Jewish person, and through his son Isaac, he became "the father of many nations" (Romans 4:17-18). At the very beginning of all this, God came into relationship with Abram (his birth name). The first time we encounter him is in Genesis 12:1: "The Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you'", a truly personal conversation, God was with Abram!
 
Abraham is one of my heroes, he made many mistakes and false starts on his long journey, he was a "late bloomer"; I can so identify with this. Most importantly, Abram, and then Abraham, knew his God so was accepting of his role of obedience "for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). Jesus' disciples were in a similar position, they were asked to "Follow me" (Matthew 4:19), and they did because Jesus was personal to them and they knew to trust Him.
 
Already This Year - Testimonies
I have grown to love Christian testimony, it is people today telling about our God meeting them and bringing them through difficult, even impossible, situations, often by using His powers beyond the natural, using miracles. The Bible contains hundreds of miracles, from the creation of "the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) to the Spirit and the bride saying, "Come! .. And take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17).
 
Easter Sunrise: On Easter Sunday, well before sunrise, a bunch of us gathered on the hill on the Eastern side of our church property. We do this every year to celebrate Jesus' resurrection, and the beginnings of our life with Him and His church family. Many of us were simply friends who came to share in this wonderful hour when we remember where our hope comes from; brothers and sisters together. We prayed, sang some lovely Christian songs and shared the Word of God together, then fellowship over a cuppa. A spiritually rich time, one of the highlights of my year!
 
I do not know if the people driving past below us were aware of us or what we were doing; we were a people set apart, sharing our love for and from Jesus, and rejoicing that He had come to the Earth and saved us, each one, all of us together in His church. Together with our Lord, with Jesus.
 

My Nose: I see a miracle in my latest cancer healing. for years there was a growing pain on the bridge of my nose. If my glasses slipped down .. OOO! Pain! No-one knew what to do about it; I asked dermatologists, my orthopedic surgeon, four or five GPs, and my optician. I even asked my dentist what she thought - no suggestions anywhere. I was afraid that soon I may not be able to wear eye glasses and would, effectively, be crippled. A few months ago I saw a lump on my temple .. Through a great series of seemingly "serendipitous" events I was booked to have the lump removed by the plastic surgery team at our nearby teaching hospital. As we waited for the anesthetic to work, I asked my surgeon, "Would you please look at my nose and tell me what you think?" She did and was immediately interested, there was nothing to see, but when she touched it my pain was real. I asked: "when you write up this excision, would you please add my nose to your notes?" "Yes", she replied and later, as I was thanking her and her team, she told me that she was writing up my nose "right now". Weeks later when her boss reviewed her (excellent) surgery on my temple, he asked, "what is this about your nose?" I told him my story. He and his student checked me out; they decided to do two biopsies; one showed a carcinoma cancer which has now been treated and is gone, and so is my pain and the threat that this mysterious growing pain presented.
 
Serendipitous? No, I don't believe so. It is extraordinarily difficult to get to see these plastic surgery teams; certainly the lump on my temple did not warrant their attention. But Jesus wanted them to see my nose because they had the skills to identify the problem and deal with it. I see Jesus' hand in all of this long, complicated chain of events. I am thrilled to be healed. My GP doctor was all smiles when I shared these thoughts ..
 
 
Is our God with me? Yes. With us? His Church? Yes. Our Jesus, who is the fullness of God (Colossians 1:19) is always present to every Christian (Matthew 28:20), even to the whole world. Always present.
 
 
Favourite Bible Verses
 
"We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:19-20).
 

"the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord's people.  To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:26-27).
 
"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).
 
Praise Jesus. Amen.
 
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