Today we are going answer the question, “How is God with
us?” We are going to look at two passages of Scripture found in Isaiah
7:14 and Matthew 1:22-23, and then other passages that help answer our
question.
Isaiah
7:14 (NASB) Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a
virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name
Immanuel.
Matthew
1:22-23 (NASB) Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by
the Lord through the prophet: (23) “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH
CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND
THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,”
which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”
Isaiah 7:14 is a prophecy of Christ’s birth which is
fulfilled in Matthew 1:22-23. The passage from Matthew gives us the
translation of Jesus’ name, “Immanuel,” “God with us.” So, how is God
with us? One way God is with us is through His Son Christ being our
Savior. He saves us from His Father’s wrath, from sin, and from the
sting of death.
Christ saves us from His Father’s wrath.
Romans 5:9 (NASB) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Because we have been justified by Christ’s blood we
shall be saved from the wrath of God. What is the wrath of God? It is
His anger and fury against sin. Because God is holy and righteous He
must punish wickedness. One example of God pouring out His wrath upon
sin is found in Genesis
19:24-25, “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and
fire from the LORD out of heaven, (25) and He overthrew those cities,
and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew
on the ground,” (NASB).
The
pouring out of God’s wrath is an event we all should take seriously.
Why? Because we were recipients of God’s wrath before we repented from
our wicked way of life and started to walk with Jesus. And, because we
know people who are going to have God’s wrath poured out upon them if
they do not repent, we should pray for them and look for opportunities
to tell them about Jesus the Savior.
Christ saves us from sin.
John
1:29 (NASB) The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming to him
and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
How
did Jesus take away our sins? Christ is the Lamb of God. He is perfect
and without sin. God requires this kind of Lamb to take away our sin.
Only Christ fulfills this requirement. So Christ’s blood cleanses us
from all sin and we become right and just before God. We are forgiven of
our sin and God sees us as holy.
The Scriptures speak of Christ as the Lamb of God:
Isaiah
53:7 (NASB) [Christ] was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not
open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep
that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.
Isaiah 53:10 (NKJV) The Lord makes Christ’s “soul an offering for sin.”
John
1:35-37 (NASB) Again the next day John was standing with two of his
disciples, (36) and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold,
the Lamb of God!” (37) The two disciples heard him speak, and they
followed Jesus.
Acts 8:32 (NASB) Now the passage of Scripture which he (the Ethiopian eunuch)
was reading was this: “HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A
LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. From
this passage Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch and he
believed in Jesus, repented of sin, and was baptized into Christ.
1 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
1 Peter 1:19 (CEV) [We] were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent Lamb.
Revelation 5:6 (NASB) And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain.
Revelation 5:8 (NASB) When He (Christ) had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.
Revelation 5:12
(NASB) [The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders said] with
a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and
riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
Revelation 5:13
(NASB) And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and
under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor
and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Revelation 6:1
(NASB) Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I
heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of
thunder, “Come.”
Revelation 6:7 (NASB) When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.”
Revelation
6:9 (NASB) When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the
altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God,
and because of the testimony which they had maintained;
Revelation
6:16 (NASB) and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on
us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb;
Revelation
7:9 (NASB) After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude
which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples
and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in
white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;
Revelation
7:10 (NASB) and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to
our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Revelation
7:14 (NASB) I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me,
“These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:17
(NASB) for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe
every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 8:1 (NASB) When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Revelation
12:11 (NASB) “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb
and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their
life even when faced with death.
Revelation
13:8 (NASB) All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose
name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book
of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
Revelation
14:1 (NASB) Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount
Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name
and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
Revelation
14:4 (NASB) These are the ones who have not been defiled with women,
for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the
Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first
fruits to God and to the Lamb.
Revelation
14:10 (NASB) he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which
is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and
in the presence of the Lamb.
Revelation
15:3 (NASB) And they *sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O
Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the
nations!
Revelation
17:14 (NASB) “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will
overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those
who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”
Revelation
19:7 (NASB) “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for
the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
Revelation
19:9 (NASB) Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are
invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These
are true words of God.”
Revelation
21:9 (NASB) Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full
of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I
will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
Revelation
21:14 (NASB) And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and
on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Revelation 21:22 (NASB) I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Revelation 21:23
(NASB) And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on
it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Revelation 21:27
(NASB) and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and
lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written
in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation
22:1 (NASB) Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as
crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
Revelation 22:3
(NASB) There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of
the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him.
Christ saves us from the sting of death.
1
Corinthians 15:55-57 (NASB) “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH,
WHERE IS YOUR STING?” (56) The sting of death is sin, and the power of
sin is the law; (57) but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In
Christ death has no power over us. Christ defeated death for us when He
was resurrected from the tomb. We may die physically if Christ tarries,
but we will never die spiritually if we are in Christ. The devil cannot
intimidate us with the fear of death because Christ has conquered
death.
Hebrews
2:14-15 (NASB) Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood,
He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He
might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the
devil, (15) and might free those who through fear of death were subject
to slavery all their lives.
Because
Christ is victorious over death we are reminded of this in 1
Corinthians 15:58 (NASB), Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your
toil is not in vain in the Lord.
So, in Christ let us be:
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Steadfast in our faithfulness to God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Scriptures, and the kingdom of God.
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Immovable when our faith in Christ is attacked by those who are haters of God.
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Always
abounding in the work of the Lord, which is as Jesus said in John 6:29
(NASB), “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has
sent.”
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Knowing that our toil in not in vain in the Lord.
God
is with us through Christ our Savior and His name is Immanuel, God with
us. He saves us from His Father’s wrath, from sin, and the sting of
death.
So,
let us daily think about Christ and how He entered into this world,
lived without sin, died for us, arose from the tomb, ascended to Heaven,
and is ministering to us as our Great High Priest. Pondering the
blessings of the salvation given to us by Christ. Praying with
thankfulness because God sent His Son to us as the Savior and Messiah.
Everyday our hearts will be encouraged and strengthened by the Holy
Spirit. Everyday will be glorious because we honor God and Christ for
what They have given us.
