# Christmas 2017 Dev. Mt.1:22-23. “God with Us!” Read Mt. 1:18- 2:6. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Matthew 1:22-23 “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d] (which means “God with us”).
In the four Gospels the introduction to Jesus is presented in different ways.
Matthew: begins with the genealogy of Jesus by beginning with Abraham ending with Joseph. He is writing to Jews. Mark: begins with a quote from Isaiah 40:3 “A voice crying in the wilderness” … a reference to John the Baptist. Mark writes to Christian communities living away from Israel. Luke: begins with foretelling the birth of John the Baptist, and the foretelling of the birth of Jesus. He is the only one who includes the dialogue of the angel and Mary. He also includes a genealogy but begins with Jesus back to Adam. It is genealogy of Mary. Luke writes to Gentiles. John: begins with God and introduces Jesus as the Word of God who is God the creator, the light of life, the light to all man and came into the world as the God man. We read the Old and the New Testament together.
The one theme all the Gospels have in common is that Jesus is declared as the Son of God. We put this theme into human terms: Jesus always was the Son of God, always is the Son of God, and always will be the Son of God! Amen.
The second highlight is the theme: “God with us, Immanuel.” That takes us back to Isaiah 7:14, King Ahaz was facing attack by what he thought as a vastly superior army, God sent Isaiah to reassure the King but Ahaz did not believe him. Isaiah’s response: “if you don’t stand in your faith you will not stand at all!” Good advice for us as well.
Ahaz is also told to ask God for reassurance, a sign which he refused to ask for. God himself gave him a sign: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” God will be with those who have faith and with those walking in darkness. Isaiah 9:2-7 “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.7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”
The scope of this prophecy is nothing less than the redemption of mankind and all creation in Christ Jesus! In God’s position of the “eternal present” this is already accomplished at the cross! Christmas assures us that it will be completed in our human position of “time and space”. God is with us, those who believe, as well as past and future believers and he will always be with us from now into the New Heaven and the New Earth forever and ever and ever! Thanks be to God!
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