Immanuel: God With Us

Christmas is upon us, and it is hailed in songs as being “the most wonderful time of the year”. It is one of my favorite holidays, and there are so many things I love about this season – the lights, the decorations, music, special treats and traditions, time with family, but most importantly – celebrating and reflecting on the event of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming into the world. It’s such a festive time, but for those of us who may be dealing with hard things such as heartache, grieving a loss, being single and feeling extra lonely during the holidays, or reeling from an unexpected event…it can be hard to feel “merry and bright”. As I have been reflecting on this Christmas season, I find great comfort in the words at the end of Matthew 1 when the angel of the Lord delivered an important message to Joseph:

“‘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 (“Savior”), for He will save His people from their sins.’ So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’.”

Immanuel…“God With Us”

This prophecy came through Isaiah the prophet, who foretold Christ’s coming:

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

2,000 years ago, God came down to earth in the likeness of human flesh (“yet without sin” -Hebrews 4:14). He came as a baby, in the night; in hard, unexpected circumstances…FOR us, and WITH us. His purpose in His coming was to “save His people from their sins”. Isaiah also predicted the suffering that Jesus would go through and the type of death He would die to accomplish this great salvation.

“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5)

I recently heard a preacher talking about this passage, and he brought out a point from verse 4 that I hadn’t noticed before. He mentioned how the first thing Isaiah talks about here is that the Savior will bear our griefs and carry our sorrows.

“He didn’t just bear our sins on the cross. He bore our griefs and sorrows. He gets it. And He cares.” -Milton Vincent

He also pointed out how Jesus is our cupbearer. God will not give us a cup of grief that He has not first tasted Himself. What a comfort! He is truly our “great High Priest” who entered into our humanity and walked where we walked and can “sympathize with our weaknesses”. He “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4) That word sympathize literally means: “to be affected with the same feeling as another.” Anything we may be dealing with – loss, heartache, loneliness, betrayal…He can truly sympathize with us, because He has felt all those things Himself! He is…

Immanuel: The GOD who suffers WITH US.

And God tells us to come to His throne of grace “that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”(Hebrews 4:15)  The Psalmist tells us to: “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you.” (Psalm 55:22)

Milton Vincent, in his sermon series on forgiveness (which I highly recommend!) reminds us of the truth that: God loved you so much that He died for you. For those of us who are His children, who have trusted in His great work of salvation that He did on the cross – He can be trusted with this hard thing you are dealing with as well.

The Story behind Silent Night…

My all-time favorite Christmas carol is Silent Night. It is even more special to me now in thinking about how the writing of that song came out of some really hard events. Josef Mohr, a Catholic priest from Austria, first penned the words to Silent Night in 1816 as Europe was reeling from the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. He originally wrote these words as a poem in German titled “Stille Nacht” to commemorate the coming of peace after such a turbulent time. Two years later, in the winter of 1818, Josef Mohr returned to his poem in order to turn it into a song for Christmas Eve mass. He was the assistant priest at the St. Nicholas parish in the village of Oberndorf, just outside of Salzburg, Austria. The story goes that on December 24^th, he showed his poem to the church organist, Franz Gruber, and asked him to write a tune for two solo voices, choir, and guitar. Franz Gruber was able to come up with a tune by that evening, and Silent Night was born. (Stories also state that the song was originally intended to be written for the organ, which broke down and then they had to scramble to come up with an accompaniment for the guitar. It is debated as to whether that was what really happened.)  

This song must have been a healing balm to the families there in Austria who had suffered loss during the recent war. It became popular and spread across Europe, eventually coming to the United States in 1839. During World War 1, “Silent Night” was sung between German and British troops during a cease fire on Christmas Eve. (The Christmas Truce of 1914.) It has been translated into 300 different dialects and languages, and year after year it’s soothing melodies and words of “Heavenly peace” bring comfort to many.

I love how God uses hard circumstances to bring about something beautiful, such as the song “Silent Night”. It came from the aftermath of war-torn Europe, and there was even the hard circumstances of Josef Mohr’s early life, which was shrouded with poverty and the stigma of him being born out of wedlock. All throughout the Bible, we see God using less than ideal circumstances to bring about His good purposes (Romans 8:28).

So, if all does not feel calm for you this Christmas season, and all is not bright…if you’re in the middle of dealing with hard things, loss, heartache, the unexpected. If you’re asking God those “why” questions and you don’t understand and can’t see what He’s doing…know that He is WITH YOU, and gives sweet comfort and peace if you will draw near to Him.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8)

God doesn’t always promise us understanding of why certain things happen, for His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9), but He DOES promise to be our Sympathizer, our Comforter, our Healer, our Immanuel – GOD WITH US.

I came across an Elisabeth Elliot quote this week that states so well the truth of looking to Jesus during hard times:

“This hard place in which you, perhaps, find yourself, is the very place in which God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him.” – Elisabeth Elliot

Let us keep our eyes fixed on HIM this Christmas season, rejoicing in the comfort, joy and wonder of His birth that brought us redeeming grace! 🌟✝️

Sincerely,

Here is a beautiful version of “Silent Night” that I stumbled across just recently. It gave me goosebumps watching it. ❤️