Immanuel--God With Us
The words of my favorite Christmas carol have been on my mind a lot lately; my devotions have been in the book of Isaiah this last month, and I noticed some things I had never paid attention to before. I wanted to share them with you today.
If you're familiar with the book of Isaiah, you may remember a time when King Ahaz and all the people of Judah were panicking because word had reached them that Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, the last king of Israel (the northern kingdom) had joined together to attack and destroy Judah (the southern kingdom). God sent Isaiah to Ahaz with a message of encouragement and hope--the attack would never happen because both kingdoms would soon be gone, conquered by the Assyrians. Ahaz was then instructed to ask the Lord for a sign to confirm this prophecy, but he demurred. "I don't want to put the Lord to the test," he said. Now it's one thing to ask God for a sign just because you want to see something miraculous; it's another entirely when God tells you to ask for a sign, and you refuse. Far from being a sign of humility, Ahaz was merely demonstrating his lack of faith in God's word.
"Okay," God said. "You don't want to ask for a sign? Well, I'm gonna give you one anyway. See this young woman right here? Well, she's going to have a baby boy and name him Immanuel. Before the child is old enough to tell right from wrong, these two kingdoms you fear will be destroyed, and Judah will enter a time it has never experienced before--conquest by the Assyrian Empire! How will he know the difference between right and wrong? By eating sour milk and honey. In fact, you all will live on sour milk and honey because the Assyrians will destroy your crops! And every time you see this child you will remember that I am with you, in spite of the Assyrians." (Julia paraphrase of Isaiah 7)
The second place the name Immanuel appears is in the next chapter, chapter 8. Isaiah has just had his second son born to him, and God instructs him to name the baby Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz ("Quick to the plunder, hurry to the loot"--and you thought your name was long! 😉). Before the child is old enough to tell right from wrong, the Lord says, the wealth and plunder of Samaria and Damascus (the capitals of Israel and Syria, respectively) will be carried off by the Assyrians. The Lord then continues:
"These people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and melt in fear over Rezin and [Pekah]. So look, the Sovereign Master is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River--the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches to the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land, O Immanuel" (Isaiah 8:6-8).
My commentary makes an interesting note here, one that caught my attention, and, as I said earlier, I had never noticed before: "The appearance of the name Immanuel is ironic at this point, for God is present with His people in judgment."
Think about that for a minute: God is present with His people in judgment.
I'm sure we all have heard sermons, songs, devotions revolving around the concept of Immanuel meaning "God with us", but maybe you, like me, have always thought of this in the positive context--God is with us when we're sad or lonely, tired or despairing. He is with us to encourage us and comfort us with His presence and strength. For some reason, that never extended in my mind to times when I'm being punished or disciplined for sin in my life. But that's exactly what God through Isaiah was telling the people of Judah at that time.
The Assyrians were coming against them. God allowed them to be partially conquered and fully dominated by the Assyrian Empire because they had fallen away from their faith. The people, led by the kings and nobles, had been, at worst, worshipping false gods (think Queen Athaliah here) and at best, serving God in a lukewarm and mediocre way (think King Rehoboam and King Ahaz here). Truly righteous kings like David were few and far between; in fact, I can only think of two--Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah. The northern kingdom of Israel, in fact, had fallen so far into idolatry and wickedness that God allowed the Assyrians to completely destroy their country and carry the majority of the citizens off into exile; the northern ten tribes were never the same after that, and I'm sure many in Judah thought they were next!
never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8), and I love you enough to stay by your side even when you forsake me, and everything seems against you."
This is a sentiment echoed in Proverbs 3:11-12 and repeated in Hebrews 12:5-6: "My son, do not scorn the Lord's discipline or give up when He corrects you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son he accepts" (NET). The concept is simple, yet profound: God loves His children so much that He never leaves them; even when they mess up and have to be punished, He is still there, by their side. I don't know about you, but that is wonderfully comforting to me!
Because, let's be honest: I mess up. I sin at times, and I bet you do, too. When we sin, we have to deal with the consequences of our mistakes, but we don't go through them alone. Our Immanuel, our loving Heavenly Father is always with us, guiding us, teaching us, correcting us, helping us through the good, the bad and the ugly, molding us finally into His likeness so that our lives can bring Him honor and glory, be a witness to a lost and dying world. And isn't that really what Christmas is all about? The presence of God here among men in all their ugliness, in all their wickedness, extending us grace and love and forgiveness?
This Christmas, I pray that each of us will truly know the presence of our Immanuel in the good days and the bad days, in the happy and the sad, in the confusing and chaotic and in the peaceful times of rest.
Merry Christmas, my friend!
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