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Jesus Christ: God With Us |
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Written by Chris Beckham
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Wednesday, 23 December 2009 |
Jesus Christ: God With Us
Just over two thousand years ago, an angel appeared to Joseph, a humble carpenter from Nazareth, and the husband-to-be of a young woman named Mary. The angel told Joseph that his wife to be was carrying a child—a child Who was conceived from the Holy Spirit. Joseph was told that this was the fulfillment of prophesy, and that this Child would be called “Immanuel.” The name, given in Matthew 1:23, is really a title. It means “God With Us.”
For Jewish people like Joseph, God was to be worshipped, and God was to be feared. God’s presence was something terrible, dreadful. Joseph’s religion taught had taught him that sin separated them from God, and rightly so. The high priest could go into the Holy place of the Temple and make offerings for their sins, but the ordinary people could not, lest they die. There was even the prospect that the high priest would die in the presence of the Lord in the Holy of Holies. God’s presence might just prove deadly for the sinners who found themselves in His presence. So then, the angel’s tidings were all the more startling: the Child would be called Immanuel, God with us. How could that be? And yet, Joseph believed. He acted on it, and did his part to see the Child brought into the world safely.
Christmas is the recognition that God kept His promise, made through prophets of old, that He would indeed come and dwell among us, walking among men as a man. Jesus, Immanuel, came to us, bringing salvation through His death on the cross. He truly is God with us. The birth of Jesus shows us that even though we have failed, we may be loved, and accepted with God.
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