"Therefore the
Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a
son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isa 7:14-15 ESV
Isaiah, building on
God's promise in Genesis 3:15, wrote
that God would one day cause a man to be born who was the seed of the woman and
not the seed of a man. This would be a
sign of God's favor on His people.
The enemies of God would be
defeated and the child would be named "Immanuel" which means
"God is with us." The sign
that God is with us is the unusual birth of the child.
In the Old
Testament, God often worked among His
people. God spoke to many Adam, Cain, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon,
David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel
and all the prophets. But speaking to
people is not the same as being with people.
God was not coming just to give advice but to put Himself in physical
and emotional risk, feel pain and experience mortal humanity. One day God took
on human form and entered our broken world to meet us where we are. He is still with us today.
Imagine yourself
falling down a well. You're trapped in a
dark, cold space, cut off from the world. Outside you can hear voices
reassuring you that everything will be all right, but you can't see anything. You would like to believe that someone was
coming to rescue you, but even though the voices above assure you that
everything is being done, you are still anxious and afraid. What if they are wrong? What if the voices
you hear are just in your own imagination?
Long hours pass and you are still terrified. Then finally, you feel a hand on your
shoulder. Someone has managed to climb down the well after you. You are no
longer alone in the well, someone has braved the pit and is alongside you. Imagine the relief you feel when you discover
that someone has cared enough to enter your world and find you!
That is what God has
done for us. He has entered the world through the virgin's womb. He allowed Himself to be exposed in a
vulnerable body which was capable of feeling pain and weakness, so that He
could rescue us, and assure us of His comfort.
When Immanuel came,
God would felt the same emotions we feel.
He breathed our air and felt our sun on His human face. He knew cold and
hunger. He hurt from the death of an
earthly father and knew the frustration
of dealing with unreasonable people. He experienced the hatred of others, along
with persecution and rejection. His perfect empathy meant that He not only felt
His own pain, but ours as well. He bore all this without sinning Himself. He did not shrink in
the face of all we must endure.
There is nothing you
have felt that God has not also felt. There is no temptation that Jesus did not
endure. There is no place you can go where God is not with you, staying by your side until the time He
delivers you safely to your Father in heaven.
Through the virgins' womb, God came to share our human experience and to
know what it is like to be you.
"God, thank you
for enduring birth and death on our behalf, that you may know how our suffering
feels. You hurt along with us, and rejoice in our gladness along with us,
too. Help us to stay with you as you have
stayed with us. In Jesus' name, Amen."
