Sermon Title: The Reality of Christmas: WHO IS EMMANUEL?
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanu-El – which means, ‘God with us’.” (Isaiah 7:14)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
“Immanu-El” – God with us – is not only a declaration of the name of God; but an acknowledgment before Him - of His Presence right here, and right now.
It is a divine greeting; a deeply personal expression that connects us to ‘El’ (God) – essentially saying to Him, “Hello Lord!”
‘Immanu-El’ - With us, God – is not only a deep sense of His Presence but a deep and present connection with Him that comes with the Promise of His Peace and the Certain Hope of His Love, Faithfulness and Goodness.
Our Lord Jesus Christ IS whom we greet by saying, ‘Immanu-El’.
For He truly is God with us!
When we speak of God, we must recognize that to know Christ - is to know every person of the God-head; Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in fully living in His Love, in His Salvation and Resurrection, and in His Power.
Even Isaiah 9:6 speaks to the Tri-Unity – the ‘Three in One-ness’ – of the God-head:
“He will be called Wonderful Counselor (Holy Spirit); Mighty God (The God-Head), Everlasting Father (Father), Prince of Peace (Son).”
To this, our Lord Jesus said to the disciples in John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” and again in John 14:26, ”the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
‘Immanu-El’ thus, really means that all Three Persons of the Living God are with us – right now, right here.
God being with us - for the past 2000 years – means that we who are weary may rejoice because we are daily experiencing that thrill of hope of His Salvation!
For the past two years, humanity has been clouded with weariness.
Especially for those of us in Christ, we must experience a deeper sense of weariness when faced with the tumult and tragedies that beholden the world today.
We are weary of sickness, weary of disease, weary of death, weary of despair, weary of misinformation, weary of disunity… ... weary of weariness – and rightfully so!
Because deep in our spirits, we know that this is not what God’s Kingdom looks like at all!
In God’s World, there is no sickness, no death, no tears; and only in Christ will we – each – be headed there.
In fact, when we see Him face to face, the Lord will personally wipe each of our tears away!
Our weariness reminds us to never settle for this world; for every form of brokenness and wickedness is absolutely unacceptable by God’s standards.
Do not settle for the governments of this world; for they are categorically inadequate by God’s Standards of love and justice.
We must always solely look forward to His Perfect, and Loving Government; to His Eternal Kingdom – and nothing else.
While the world draws further from God in weariness; in ours, let us draw closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is important to know that only in Christ do we have that certain hope to look forward to His world free of injustice, free of sickness and free of death – for He is the very Embodiment of God; and thus, the very Personification of the Hope we have in His Love and Coming Kingdom.
Jesus said to us in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Come now; come just as you are.
And because we live in the Presence of God and in the certain hope of His coming Kingdom, we may rejoice in our weariness, praise and worship Him in our despair, and remain hopeful in the face of a hopeless world.
Our joy, salvation and relationship with God is neither abstract nor hypothetical because it is not only etched in human history; it is established in the simple reality of Immanu-El – God with us.
Our relationship with God is personal, intimate, real, present and can be experienced firsthand in this life and the next!
John 1:9-14 reveals.
“9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
12 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So, God became flesh; flesh just like ours – flesh that we can touch, flesh we can hold on to.
This is Immanu-El – “God, you are with us” – that whenever we reach out to touch Him, to hold Him - we can.
We - who are born of God - have the ability to touch God, to hold His hand and feel His hands in ours.
That is the reason why the Word became flesh – that we may hold the hand of God as did Mary, Joseph and everyone who came near to the Christ–Child.
A testimony is shared about a missionary reaching out to a family of four – a father, mother and their adult son and daughter - who refused to believe in Jesus.
Every time the missionary shared the gospel to them, their answer was that they simply held on to the fact that there is no such thing as god. They professed that to their dying breathe, they would hold firmly to this fact.
Time passed and it was discovered that the son was dying from an incurable disease; and that caused the missionary to visit them more often.
And as always, they would reject Christ and firmly hold onto their belief in the fact that there is no such thing as god, all the more, Christ, who is ‘God’ who died for the forgiveness of their sins.
They continued to hold on tight to this fact till the son was in his final hours whereupon the missionary overheard his death throes, along with the encouragements of his family members who reminded him, “Remember son, we agreed that there is no such thing as god, or a Saviour, or even a life after death. Hold on to the facts!”
The son’s responses was mostly groans while the family kept reminding him to hold on to the facts.
Finally in his final moments, he was overheard shouting back at his parents and sister with his dying breathe, “Stop it! Stop telling me to hold onto facts! I am trying, but there is nothing for me to hold on to! I cannot hold on to facts! I’m dying and I need something much, much more than facts! I cannot hold on to anything; what I need is someone to hold onto me through this!”
With that, he passed away.
The Lord – who is always present to us – promises us in Isaiah 46:4:
“Even to your old age and gray hair I am He, I am He who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
Only Christ can carry us – in this life; and into the next.
In any reality found in this world, there is simply no one who has professed his ability to actually carry us through this life; or even from this life to the next – and proved it with the ability to conquer sin and death that is sealed in the history books of the world.
Sure, there are various religious claims or mythical stories, but none are backed by the historical fact of Christ’s birth, ministry, death and resurrection, and ascension to the heavens.
Christ alone can hold us through this life and into the life to come.
His is the only hand that we can hold on firmly - both physically and spiritually.
In this season of looking forward to 2022, know that God is not only near you – He is with you, even right now, and forevermore.
And that’s why He has given you the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord – that you may be with Him forever.
Daily acknowledge His Presence in your life; daily give your life to Him; daily be amazed by His Grace and Love for you; daily quietly let Him come through for you; daily say to Him, “Immanu-El – “Hello Lord Jesus, thank You for being right here with us.”
May your 2022 be filled with the Presence of the All-present (Omnipresent), All-Knowing (Omniscient) and Almighty (Omnipotent) God in your life.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, I know nothing about what 2022 holds for me, I do not even know about tomorrow – but as long as I am walking beside you, Lord Jesus, I know that You are holding my hand.
Grant me courage, strength, wisdom and resolve to walk with You all the days of my life.
In my weariness, may I draw closer to You and deeper in Your Kingdom Reality.
Holy Spirit, Help me encounter You, and experience Your Power in and through me, daily.
That I may daily give my life to my Lord Jesus Christ; daily be utterly amazed by the Grace of God; and daily let You – O Lord – come through for me as I remain in quietness, trust and obedience before You.
May I dwell daily in Your Holy Presence, Lord Jesus – and experience Your divine Peace and Rest through it all.
Open my heart to see Your Glory, Lord – for I know that even to my old age and gray hair, You will sustain me; for You made me – and You will carry me, and rescue me.
Lord Jesus, I give You my hand, my heart and my life – carry me, Lord – in this life, and unto Your Promised Gift of Eternal Life.
Immanu-El! Immanu-El! Immanu-El!
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanu-El – which means, ‘God with us’.” (Isaiah 7:14)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
“Immanu-El” – God with us – is not only a declaration of the name of God; but an acknowledgment before Him - of His Presence right here, and right now.
It is a divine greeting; a deeply personal expression that connects us to ‘El’ (God) – essentially saying to Him, “Hello Lord!”
‘Immanu-El’ - With us, God – is not only a deep sense of His Presence but a deep and present connection with Him that comes with the Promise of His Peace and the Certain Hope of His Love, Faithfulness and Goodness.
Our Lord Jesus Christ IS whom we greet by saying, ‘Immanu-El’.
For He truly is God with us!
When we speak of God, we must recognize that to know Christ - is to know every person of the God-head; Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in fully living in His Love, in His Salvation and Resurrection, and in His Power.
Even Isaiah 9:6 speaks to the Tri-Unity – the ‘Three in One-ness’ – of the God-head:
“He will be called Wonderful Counselor (Holy Spirit); Mighty God (The God-Head), Everlasting Father (Father), Prince of Peace (Son).”
To this, our Lord Jesus said to the disciples in John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” and again in John 14:26, ”the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
‘Immanu-El’ thus, really means that all Three Persons of the Living God are with us – right now, right here.
God being with us - for the past 2000 years – means that we who are weary may rejoice because we are daily experiencing that thrill of hope of His Salvation!
For the past two years, humanity has been clouded with weariness.
Especially for those of us in Christ, we must experience a deeper sense of weariness when faced with the tumult and tragedies that beholden the world today.
We are weary of sickness, weary of disease, weary of death, weary of despair, weary of misinformation, weary of disunity… ... weary of weariness – and rightfully so!
Because deep in our spirits, we know that this is not what God’s Kingdom looks like at all!
In God’s World, there is no sickness, no death, no tears; and only in Christ will we – each – be headed there.
In fact, when we see Him face to face, the Lord will personally wipe each of our tears away!
Our weariness reminds us to never settle for this world; for every form of brokenness and wickedness is absolutely unacceptable by God’s standards.
Do not settle for the governments of this world; for they are categorically inadequate by God’s Standards of love and justice.
We must always solely look forward to His Perfect, and Loving Government; to His Eternal Kingdom – and nothing else.
While the world draws further from God in weariness; in ours, let us draw closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is important to know that only in Christ do we have that certain hope to look forward to His world free of injustice, free of sickness and free of death – for He is the very Embodiment of God; and thus, the very Personification of the Hope we have in His Love and Coming Kingdom.
Jesus said to us in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Come now; come just as you are.
And because we live in the Presence of God and in the certain hope of His coming Kingdom, we may rejoice in our weariness, praise and worship Him in our despair, and remain hopeful in the face of a hopeless world.
Our joy, salvation and relationship with God is neither abstract nor hypothetical because it is not only etched in human history; it is established in the simple reality of Immanu-El – God with us.
Our relationship with God is personal, intimate, real, present and can be experienced firsthand in this life and the next!
John 1:9-14 reveals.
“9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
12 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So, God became flesh; flesh just like ours – flesh that we can touch, flesh we can hold on to.
This is Immanu-El – “God, you are with us” – that whenever we reach out to touch Him, to hold Him - we can.
We - who are born of God - have the ability to touch God, to hold His hand and feel His hands in ours.
That is the reason why the Word became flesh – that we may hold the hand of God as did Mary, Joseph and everyone who came near to the Christ–Child.
A testimony is shared about a missionary reaching out to a family of four – a father, mother and their adult son and daughter - who refused to believe in Jesus.
Every time the missionary shared the gospel to them, their answer was that they simply held on to the fact that there is no such thing as god. They professed that to their dying breathe, they would hold firmly to this fact.
Time passed and it was discovered that the son was dying from an incurable disease; and that caused the missionary to visit them more often.
And as always, they would reject Christ and firmly hold onto their belief in the fact that there is no such thing as god, all the more, Christ, who is ‘God’ who died for the forgiveness of their sins.
They continued to hold on tight to this fact till the son was in his final hours whereupon the missionary overheard his death throes, along with the encouragements of his family members who reminded him, “Remember son, we agreed that there is no such thing as god, or a Saviour, or even a life after death. Hold on to the facts!”
The son’s responses was mostly groans while the family kept reminding him to hold on to the facts.
Finally in his final moments, he was overheard shouting back at his parents and sister with his dying breathe, “Stop it! Stop telling me to hold onto facts! I am trying, but there is nothing for me to hold on to! I cannot hold on to facts! I’m dying and I need something much, much more than facts! I cannot hold on to anything; what I need is someone to hold onto me through this!”
With that, he passed away.
The Lord – who is always present to us – promises us in Isaiah 46:4:
“Even to your old age and gray hair I am He, I am He who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
Only Christ can carry us – in this life; and into the next.
In any reality found in this world, there is simply no one who has professed his ability to actually carry us through this life; or even from this life to the next – and proved it with the ability to conquer sin and death that is sealed in the history books of the world.
Sure, there are various religious claims or mythical stories, but none are backed by the historical fact of Christ’s birth, ministry, death and resurrection, and ascension to the heavens.
Christ alone can hold us through this life and into the life to come.
His is the only hand that we can hold on firmly - both physically and spiritually.
In this season of looking forward to 2022, know that God is not only near you – He is with you, even right now, and forevermore.
And that’s why He has given you the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord – that you may be with Him forever.
Daily acknowledge His Presence in your life; daily give your life to Him; daily be amazed by His Grace and Love for you; daily quietly let Him come through for you; daily say to Him, “Immanu-El – “Hello Lord Jesus, thank You for being right here with us.”
May your 2022 be filled with the Presence of the All-present (Omnipresent), All-Knowing (Omniscient) and Almighty (Omnipotent) God in your life.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, I know nothing about what 2022 holds for me, I do not even know about tomorrow – but as long as I am walking beside you, Lord Jesus, I know that You are holding my hand.
Grant me courage, strength, wisdom and resolve to walk with You all the days of my life.
In my weariness, may I draw closer to You and deeper in Your Kingdom Reality.
Holy Spirit, Help me encounter You, and experience Your Power in and through me, daily.
That I may daily give my life to my Lord Jesus Christ; daily be utterly amazed by the Grace of God; and daily let You – O Lord – come through for me as I remain in quietness, trust and obedience before You.
May I dwell daily in Your Holy Presence, Lord Jesus – and experience Your divine Peace and Rest through it all.
Open my heart to see Your Glory, Lord – for I know that even to my old age and gray hair, You will sustain me; for You made me – and You will carry me, and rescue me.
Lord Jesus, I give You my hand, my heart and my life – carry me, Lord – in this life, and unto Your Promised Gift of Eternal Life.
Immanu-El! Immanu-El! Immanu-El!
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.