Good evening Gorgeous,

It’s almost midnight, and the day has been jampacked, but I cannot turn in for the evening and go to bed without reflecting on Jesus as we countdown to Christmas and celebrate His divine birth.

This morning I read the first few chapters of Matthew, and Matthew is the only gospel to include reference to the prophecy in Isaiah that the Savior would be born by a virgin and would be called Immanuel meaning God with us.

Here is the prophecy from Isaiah in the Old Testament written over 700 years before the promise was fulfilled. The Lord made it VERY clear how to know that it was indeed the Messiah. He said He would give us a sign, and the sign would be a virgin birth. This would be evidence that the baby was divinely born.

The Lord was promising His people that He, Himself would come and dwell among them. He would come and break down the barriers separating God and man. He would come and leave His seat on High, take on flesh, and walk with His people.

He would do it in the most humble means possible, a tiny dependent baby. He would come into the earth to dwell among us, both fully man and fully God so that He could be with His people. He came with such compassion, mercy, and love. He came eye to eye with His creation. He walked in the earth touching hurts, healing sickness, driving away darkness, and speaking identity into people. He came and spoke to the people teaching them and restoring them and ultimately sacrificing Himself as an offering to break the curse of sin and death.

But not before we could see His heart on display. Jesus is the visible Lord that we can see and touch and feel. As we read the gospel accounts, we get a close up, intimate look at the Lord and the love He has for us.

And Immanuel, God with us, is so beautiful because the Lord is both declaring that Jesus is Lord AND that He is with us. He is not some far off, unreachable Lord. He is here and close and among us.

He walked the earth as a man, but then when He ascended after His birth, death, and resurrection, He now comes to EVERY believer who places their trust in Him and calls on His Name.

He is fully accessible to us. Immanuel, God is with us.

Immanuel, God is with me.

Immanuel, God is close to me.

Immanuel, God with us.

In the beginning chapter of Matthew, Joseph is pondering and thinking about how Mary is pregnant and that he will quietly break off the engagement with her when He is visited by an angel of the Lord.

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus , for He will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:20‭-‬21 NKJV

And then right after the angel speaks to Joseph, right here in the New Testament, written over 700 years after the verse in Isaiah, we find the verse in Matthew right in the middle of Jesus’s birth story.

Matthew is clearly showing that the sign that the Lord spoke of is here. The Lord has come. The prophecy has been fulfilled and it is just as the Lord said it would be!

Friends, we serve a promise keeping Lord! He is with us and promises to never ever leave us!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You Lord for being Immanuel, God with us. Thank You for being a personal, intimate Lord that cares for us with mercy and compassion. Thank You for being accessible and with us in every valley and on every rooftop! We praise You! Lord, keep our hearts laid wide open in both celebration and expectancy of You!

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Blessings,

Vanessa Lynn