Immanuel – God with us

1. Immanuel – “Godwithus" – 31st December2016
"Andshe will bear a Son; and youshall call His name Jesus, for it isHe who will save His peoplefrom
their sins." (Matthew1:21).
We come across the wordImmanuel inthe bible,certainsongsthatwe singetc.Firstlywe canlearnof a
prophecy onthe virginbirth inIsaiah 7 where the prophetIsaiahdeclared, "ThereforetheLord Himself
will give you a sign:The virginwill be withchildand will give birthto a son,and will call Him
Immanuel."(Isaiah7:14).This prophecyreferstothe birthof Jesus as we can findin Matthew 1:22-23,
"All thistook place to fulfill whatthe Lord had saidthroughthe prophet:'The virginwill be withchild
and will givebirth to a son, andthey will call himImmanuel' whichmeans,'Godwithus.'" Thisdoes
not mean,however,thatthe Messiah’sname wouldactuallybe Immanuel.
There are manynamesgiventoJesususingthe phrase “He shall be called,”bothinthe Oldand New
Testaments.Thiswasa commonwayof sayingthat people wouldrefertoHimin these variousways.
Isaiahprophesiedof the Messiah,“Hisname shall be calledWonderful,Counselor,The mightyGod,The
everlastingFather,The Prince of Peace”(Isaiah9:6).None of these titleswasJesus’actual name,but
these were descriptionspeoplewoulduse torefertoHim forever.Luke tellsusJesus“shall be calledthe
Son of the Highest”as we can learnfrom Luke 1:32, “He will be great and will be calledthe Sonof the
Most High.The Lord Godwill give himthe throne of hisfather David.” We can learnthatJesuswas
referredtoas the “son of God” as we learnfromLuke 1:35, “The angel answered, “The HolySpirit will
come on you,and the power of the Most High will overshadowyou. Sothe holyone to be born will be
called[a]the Son ofGod.” If we go to Matthew 1:21, it says, "Andshe will bear a Son;and you shall call
His name Jesus,for it is He whowill save His people from their sins." One mayinquire isthisa
contradiction?No.Itisnot.
In ancienttimesnameswere oftengivenasrepresentationsof the hopesanddreamsof the parentsor
evenof recognitionof divine assistance.Namesinthe OldTestamenthadunderstandablemeanings.For
example:Abrammeans"exaltedfather,"butAbraham alsomeans"Fatherof amultitude."Some names
couldevenbe translatedintocompletesentences. Namesare more descriptive inthe Hebrew and
Greekthan theyare in English.Theyoftenrefertothe character, purpose,etc.,of the one beingnamed.
The closestwe come to understandingthisisinNative Americanculture.We are familiarwithsuch
namesas "RunningBear,"or "PrettyEagle,"or"White Owl"as names.These namesmeantsomething
and were farmore descriptive than"Bob,"or"Tom,"or "Sue."
Whenwe come to Isaiah7:14 as statedabove,we encounteraprophecyaboutthe Messiah--stating
that hisname will be Immanuel.Immanuelliterallymeans"Godiswithus."Thisissignificantbecause
JesusisGod inflesh aswe learnfrom John1:1: “In the beginningwasthe Word,and the Word was
with God,andthe Wordwas God.” We can learnagainfrom John1:14, “The Wordbecame fleshand
made hisdwellingamongus. Wehave seen hisglory,the gloryof the one and onlySon,who came
from the Father, full ofgrace andtruth.”
So,we can see thata prophecyof Jesusbeing"Immanuel"isdealingwith HisbeingGod --the wordin
flesh.Thiswasfulfilledinthe birthof Jesus whenthe Word,knownasthe Son,secondpersonof the
Trinity,became flesh.We call thisthe incarnation. Whenitcame time toname the Lord, an angel of the
Lord appearedtoJosephina dreamand toldJosephtocall hisnew son"Jesus,foritis He who will save
His people fromtheirsins" .We can learnthisas statedin Matthew 1:21, "And she will bear a Son; and

2. you shall call His name Jesus,for it is He who will save His people fromtheir sins." The word "Jesus"
means"Jehovahissalvation."Thisisappropriate since JesusisJehovah,secondpersonof the Trinity,
whobecame fleshandisour salvation.

3. In two different places, the prophet Jeremiah says in referring to the coming Messiah,
“And this is His name by which He shall be called, YHWH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”
(Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16). Now we know that God, the Father, is named Yahweh.
Jesus was never actually called Yahweh as though it was His name, but His role was that
of bringing the righteousness of Yahweh to those who would believe in Him, exchanging
that righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, this is one of the many
titles or “names” which belong to Him.
In the same way, to say that Jesus would be called "Immanuel" means Jesus is God and
that He dwelt among us in His incarnation and that He is always with us. Jesus was God
in the flesh. Jesus was God making His dwelling among us (John 1:1,14). No, Jesus' name
was not Immanuel, but Jesus was the meaning of Immanuel, "God with us." Immanuel is
one of the many titles for Jesus, a description of who He is.