All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"- which means "God with us."
This was to announce before His birth, that the child that was to be born was "God" (in the flesh) and "with us." Not only was He God in human form, but He was "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
What goodness and forbearance The Father has shown in providing a Savior for sinful man! He so earnestly desired that we would be restored to fellowship with Him, that He came Himself in human form- in order to demonstrate His love and desire that we be reconciled to Him. He desired that reconciliation and fellowship with us enough to leave all the glories of heaven, the worship of angels, and to experience weariness, hunger and thirst, betrayal, pain, humiliation, imprisonment, and death - all so that he could "take away the sin of the world!"
And who is man, that God - The Creator- should regard him? Not only did he love us enough to make a way of salvation, but even after having prepared the way through His death on the cross and resurrection, He went even further- in giving us freely of His Holy Spirit- to fulfill the promise of "Immanuel- God with us." Just as He promised, He is with us always- "even to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
Let us not wait until Christmas to reflect on this awesome Gift of God- or to recall exactly what it means that God is "with us!"
No comments:
Post a Comment