December 2, 2024 Devo

This prophecy is a little harder for us to fully appreciate because of how personal we have made God in our theology. Many people have come to think of Jesus so commonly that He is almost a “big buddy in the sky.”
But for the Jews, it wasn’t so. God had not yet come in the flesh. He had only shown Himself through ways that were terrifying to the ordinary man. God was a pillar of fire. He was a mysterious cloud. He spoke out of a burning bush. When His presence was near, it was blinding and overwhelming. God was Otherly. Unknowable, untouchable, unreachable. He was beyond understanding.
That’s why the term “Immanuel” becomes such an important part of the prophecies surrounding the Messiah. The “God is with us” for Isaiah and his people meant that God was on their side. He would be the one who would fight for them. He would be the one who would protect them. He would be the one who would go before them, make a way for them, and deliver them. All wonderful qualities of the God they served.
But Jesus would give the term “Immanuel” a meaning as never before. God would no longer simply be with them “in spirit.” He would be with them IN THE FLESH! The God whom they had only imagined became the God who would stand before them. The God whom they believed that to see His face would be to die would become the God whose face they would look at to LIVE. Before Jesus, they HOPED God was with them. Jesus SHOWED them God was with them.
Walk in that thought today. God who came to earth as Jesus has stayed on this earth as the Holy Spirit. Wherever you are today, you can look to Him. Wherever you find yourself today, He is right beside you. Right now, wherever you are, you can talk to Him. Immanuel has not only come, He has STAYED. And He is with YOU! That’s God’s Word for you today.