The Names of Jesus – Immanuel, God With Us – Sermon – Pastors Marlee and Dave Page

In the birth of Jesus, God declares you and I are worth something significant to Him, Our God declares His love for us and His willingness to save us from our sin.

And so, He actually does something about that. Something that had to be done. God loves you and me so much that He was willing to be incarnated, to come to earth, so that He could save us from our sin, He came to rescue us.

Advent reminds us Jesus has come, and He is coming again.

This morning, and for this advent season we will be joining with together with our CBOQ family in preparing our hearts for the coming of son of God – the incarnation we’re going to talk about that word this morning and what it means for God to be with us!!

One benefit of joining together with our CBOQ family this advent season is in the use of the Advent Reader they have provided….

Advent Reader (click link to download)

Our “Journey of Reflection” is an Advent reader and journal. It will guide you through the weeks leading up to Christmas, providing a source of inspiration and personal reflection. Within these pages you will find a daily selection of scripture, a short reflection and a challenge that will help you grow in your faith journey. This is a wonderful opportunity to chronicle your own thoughts and experiences through these weeks that lead up to We hope this will serve as a record of your spiritual growth this Advent season.

Reading from Sunday, December 3

Matthew 1:22-23 NIV

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Reflection from Reader:

“In Matthew 1:22-23, we are informed of the miraculous birth of Jesus through the prophecy from Isaiah and the theological wonder that Jesus is God. After describing His genealogy and the miracles and angelic dreams, Matthew rather plainly states the incredible, historical, wondrous fact that Jesus was born. His name shall be called Immanuel.”

That is the name of Jesus that we will focus mainly on for today – “Immanuel”….but before we get their, there’s another name that commonly gets associated with Jesus and that name is Messiah….

Many people think Christ is one of Jesus’ names, (Jesus Christ). It is not.

Christ = Messiah = God’s Conquering King

Christ is the Greek word for Messiah. Christ and Messiah are the same thing. They both literally mean anointed one.

Though many passages in the Old Testament mention and describe the Messiah, they usually do not use the word, Messiah. Instead, it is used of those who are anointed (kings, priests, prophets).

Things changed by the time that the New Testament was written. By then Messiah and Christ were used exclusively of the Messiah that Israel longed for, and not of other anointed people.

Christ first of all refers to the promised Messiah, and only indirectly refers to Jesus, since Jesus is the promised Messiah. When Christ is used in the New Testament, don’t automatically think of Jesus. Instead, think of the Messiah, God’s anointed king.

The Messiah concept started when God promised king David that his descendant would build a house for God and God would establish his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:13). From that time on people looked for the kings in David’s royal linage to accomplish these things. That did not happen. After almost twenty generations of Davidic kings, the Babylonians conquered Israel, ended the reign of the Davidic kings, moved Israel’s leaders to Babylon, and took over Israel. Even after all of this the Jews still looked for the king, the Messiah, to come and rescue them….and one day, long into the future at that time….the King did come…

The Old Testament foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, be a descendant of king David, and live during the time when Jesus lived. Jesus met these prophecies. No one else did.

Now, let’s talk about our other word – the KEY name of Jesus that we focus on this morning – Immanuel.

Perhaps some of the most well known prophetic words about the coming of the Messiah are found in the book of Isaiah. Let me give you a little background to put the verses we are going to consider into context.

Approximately 700 years before the Birth of Jesus, Isaiah is speaking to the King of Judah, King Ahaz. King Ahaz was a man who was evil in many ways, he actually sacrificed his own children to false gods. Sick, twisted, evil are all good words to describe Ahaz.

The Assyrian Empire was steadily increasing in influence and power and many of the nations of the region were scared about what would happen to them. Syria and Israel wanted to form a coalition with Judah to oppose the growing power of the Assyrians. They made a proposition to King Ahaz, but King Ahaz didn’t know what to do. Because of his hesitation Syria and Israel turned against King Ahaz – they decided that they were going to punish him and get rid of him. Syria and Israel wanted to put another king on the throne of Judah so that they could have their way. Sounds like the modern day doesn’t it??

King Ahaz heard that Syria and Israel had turned against him, and that scared him. Isaiah the prophet was sent to the King to calm him down, to give him a message of comfort, and we read that message in chapter 7 of Isaiah.

Listen to the words of Isaiah 7:10-14,

¹⁰ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹ “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

¹³ Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin ^h will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel

Isaiah said to Ahaz: ’if you would only trust in God, if you would put your faith in God, give everything into His hands, then you will be alright and God will look after you, He will take care of you’.

Isaiah commanded Ahaz to test God, to ask God to prove this message was from Him by asking God to confirm it with a sign.

But, Ahaz in his pride, in his stubbornness, he refused and went his own way. Ahaz trusted in his own wisdom and he decided that it would be better to use men. Ahaz made a treaty with another nation, Ahaz made a covenant with the enemy, the King of Assyria.

Instead of uniting with Syria and Israel, Ahaz sided with the enemy. But things didn’t go as Ahaz had hoped and the King of Assyria broke the treaty and Ahaz ended up in a far worse situation than he had started.

Ahaz turned his back on God, even though he had already been told by God, that despite his stubbornness, despite his pride, God would send the sign of God’s own choosing.

Simply put Immanuel means ’God with us’.

If Ahaz would wait, if Ahaz would have faith, all the pressure, all the threat, all the onslaught from the other nations around, it would all pass away and all would be at peace.

But, Ahaz refused to listen to the voice of God. Yet, God did not withdraw His promise because of the King’s unfaithfulness. God was faithful to the remnant of those people in the nation of Judah who were faithful to Him, and God said: ’I’m going to send this baby, regardless of whether Ahaz trusts me or fails Me, this child will be born, a virgin will conceive, and his name will be Immanuel’. In all the trial and tribulation and pressure that the nation of Judah faced, even though their King betrayed them, even though their King buckled under the pressure of human men and kings and politicians, God remained faithful to His people.

This name ’Immanuel’ is only found three times in the word of God: it’s found here in Isaiah, then it is found again in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 8, and in Matthew 1 verse 23.

Immanuel – God with us. God is not just looking after us, God doesn’t just have His hand on us and care for us, but God within the birth of this child, God’s very presence has come to dwell with us in the body of this child.

Isaiah 9:6, says: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

In Hebrew El-Gibbor, the mighty God! This child signified the living presence of the eternal, mighty God with His people. And the Advent, the coming of that child was certain, He was going to be born.

Matthew 1:23, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”  (which means “God with us”).

Immanuel, the only time this name is mentioned in the New Testament is here. The baby spoken of in Isaiah’s prophetic words is Jesus, conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit.

Advent is also a good time to remember that Jesus, as He promised, is coming again. Exactly when His second Advent will be we do not know, but the Bible is clear that Jesus will return. In Luke 21, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the future, His second advent.

Luke 21:25-28 Jesus said,  “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶ People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁷ At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

I heard lots of sermons like that when I was a young person. For a while I was worried about what I would be doing when Jesus returned. I was almost fixated on it. What if I was riding my bike, what if I was in the middle of an argument… I suppose the real questions for us to think about might go something like this:

When Jesus returns, what would you want Him to find you doing?

If you knew the second advent of Jesus was tomorrow, would you do anything different from yesterday or today?

And if there are things you would do differently tomorrow, should we actually be doing things differently everyday?

Advent reminds us Jesus has come yes, and it also must remind us that He is coming again. Jesus came, lived a perfect life, suffered a cruel death on a cross, carried the punishment of your sins and mine, rose triumphant from the grave, ascended into Heaven, that’s what we will celebrate at the communion table this morning….and one day He will return.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, where we lite the Hope candle.

Church, do you truly have hope??? Do you see that out of the darkness of this world, or your weariness, or your illness – whatever it is – the pressures of the world that are coming in upon you, can you see that God in His Son, has sent Immanuel? And that in Him there is Hope!

• God has come to be with you!
• God has come to rescue you!

His love, His grace, His mercy, His saving power, is available to you today if you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. That is the Gospel, that is the good news, that is the reason for Christmas, The Christ/Messiah, Jesus came into this world, Immanuel, God with us, to save us from our sin and in that we have hope!!!

What does Immanuel mean to you?

• A God who cares for you.
• A God who understands you.
• A God who is with you.
• A God who forgives you.
• A God who gives you the free gift of salvation.
• A God who has saved you.

Who is Immanuel to you?

God, took on flesh, took on substance that we might see Him, as John says: that we might touch Him, that we might worship Him, that we might hear Him.

God took upon Himself human form, Jesus came as a baby and grew into a man, fully God yet fully man.

He could be seen, He could be touched, people could hear Him speak.

Immanuel, God with us.

Do you see Immanuel is with you?

Jesus, the living form of God, yet many turn away from Him. The people wanted to see God, but when they saw God they turned away from God, they refused to acknowledge the glory that shone from Him to them. God put Christ, His Son, the word of God, into human flesh so that people could speak with Him, yet so many rejected Him and His words….and still do today?

Do you see Immanuel is with you? Immanuel, God is with us.

The bread of His Body and the cup of His spilled blood of Salvation is what this table is all about…

Are you going through the storms of life? Are you going through the storms of sickness or bereavement or pain?

Are you going through the storms of loneliness or desertion?

Whatever storms you’re going through, listen: Immanuel, God is with us. God is with you!

Maybe you feel like you are on your own today, but no matter where you are, no matter how lonely you are, no matter how you feel, no matter where you are in your life, listen: God is with you!

I will close with this, and then invite you to join us at the table. God is our everlasting Father. He is the Almighty Comforter who is with us wherever we go and in whatever we do.

….and in obedience to God’s plan of restoration for us, He takes one nail scarred had and takes yours….and He takes his other nail scarred hand joins with the father….so that through Him we are rescued from ourselves and restored to our Father in Heaven.

Immanuel, God, is, with, us!

God took upon Himself our sin nature, God took upon Himself our human – being, our feelings, our emotions so that He would know what we go through. So that He could empathize, so that He could sympathize – so that He could suffer!