One of my favorite Christmas carols since I was a little girl has been “O Come, O Come, Immanuel”. I didn’t understand all the words at first, but I loved the haunting minor of the opening prayer that Immanuel would come and ransom His captive people followed by the modulation into the relative major for the first victorious “Rejoice!” And I loved the way the G-major “Rejoice!” gave way again to e-natural minor as the song declared that Immanuel has come to Israel.
The word “Immanuel”—“God with us”—seemed clear to me: Jesus came to live as a man on earth. The truth behind this mystery, however, was veiled to me for years. Today as I live in the already-but-not-yet kingdom of being born again into eternal life and seated with Christ at the Father’s right hand while still being bound in a mortal body, I’m beginning to see that Immanuel means far more than a miraculous baby who grew up to live a perfect life as our example. Immanuel is the strength of my friend who walks through the progression of her daughter’s brain tumor. Immanuel is the One who reminds me to trust Him when I’m anxious because He keeps His promises. Immanuel is the One who knows when I feel shame or despair and promises that His grace is enough and His strength is made perfect in weakness. Immanuel is the One who took my sin onto Himself and became the curse I deserved and ransomed me from darkness.
There is a new carol that I love now—“God With Us” by Todd Agnew. It tells the story of the magi’s discovering Immanuel, of learning that He was “the eternal One born into time…mortal and mystery somehow intertwined; this baby child is God with us!”
The song crescendos with the words, “In all our wisdom, we came to seek a king, but how do you prepare to meet the Lord? In all my wildest hopes, I never even dreamed Who the star was truly pointing toward—what the star was truly shining for.”
Then the carol ends with this declaration: “God with us; Immanuel, [is] come to us. The King of Israel abides with us! In this little boy, who could know we’d find the Creator born Redeemer of mankind, and the hand of God is reaching out for mine. This baby child is God with us; Mary’s baby child is God with us!”
Jesus is Immanuel not only because He came as a human baby but because He purchased us from our natural condition of being children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) by shedding His blood as a propitiation for our sin (Rom 3:25-26). He reconciled us to God through His blood, and when we believe, He indwells us by His Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14). He is Immanuel because He took our sin and our curse and all the transgressions committed against us—He took all that into Himself and offered Himself to the Father as the only possible sacrifice that could satisfy God’s demand for justice and also release us from our sentence of death. He is Immanuel because He removed the barrier of sin so that we who believe could be in the presence of the living God—and He Himself lives in us and will never leave us or forsake us!
Because Jesus is Immanuel I lean on Him when I feel weak or unworthy. I ask Him to be my strength when I feel unable to know or do the loving thing in a confusing situation. I ask Him to take care of me when I feel misunderstood or afraid, and I ask Him to be my wisdom when I feel threatened or helpless.
This season we celebrate the tangible coming of Immanuel into our sin and our sickness. We rejoice that He took our shame and death and redeemed us from them. We acknowledge that He has given us the most He could give us: His own self indwelling us as the guarantee that He will come back as a reigning King and give us glorified bodies and a place in His eternal kingdom.
This Christmas, we who are alive in Him cry out, “Rejoice! God is with us! Even so, come, Immanuel!”
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ColleenTinker08.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Colleen Tinker, the editor of Proclamation! magazine, and her husband Richard left Adventism in 1998 with their two sons, Roy and Nathanael, who were in grades six and ten. They have co-led the Former Adventist Fellowship Bible study at Trinity Church in Redlands, California, since 1999. Colleen, a graduate of Walla Walla University, is a former high school English teacher and also the former managing editor of Adventist Today magazine. She is also a small-group discussion leader for Trinity Women’s ministries. Colleen became the stepmother of Roy and Nathanael in 1989, and in 2008 she adopted them. Romans 8:15-17 has assumed new depth and significance for her and Richard since she and her sons chose to claim each other legally and permanently. She and Richard share their office with Rocky the sheltie, and they love having a new granddaughter.[/author_info] [/author]
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Very nice story about your favorite Christmas carol when you were young! I didn’t understand all the musical tech lingo but I got the point. The examples of ‘Immanuel’ in your experiences, especially about your friend with Immanuel’s strength going through her daughter’s brain cancer was very relevant to me. I am so blessed to been around the Lord’s ‘captains’ and other Christian ‘warriors’ since coming to FAF and leaving Adventism.
Charles