Alright, let's open our Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 7. This past Wednesday I dealt with
this chapter, and I wanted to go back this evening and just
deal with a few verses, probably the one that is most familiar
to you out of this chapter, in verse 14, which is an obvious
prophecy of the birth of Christ. This is God speaking through
his prophet Isaiah. And he's giving this as a sign. This prophecy is a sign. And
he's giving this sign to a wicked, unbelieving, self-righteous king
named Ahaz. Now, I'm not going to go back
into all the historical background. Basically what he's telling this
king, Ahaz, he's telling him that you have nothing to fear
from your enemies and you have no reason to make alliances and
confederacies with foreign idolatrous nations. Because God has already
made a promise that it is through this nation of Judah, the house
of David, that he would send the Messiah. And that all Ahaz
had to do was to fix his mind and his thoughts and his hearts
in faith in the God who made the promise. But now Ahaz wouldn't
do that. He wickedly refused, as all men
by nature do. He refused to believe God. Isaiah
told him back up in verse 9, he said, If you will not believe,
surely you shall not be established. And literally that would read
this way. You may have this in your concordance. He said, do
you not believe? Well, it's because you're not
stable. An unstable man. God made a promise. God has never
made a promise that he was not willing to fulfill and that he
was not able to fulfill. All the promises of God. And
so in verse 10, the prophet spoke to Ahaz. And he says, moreover,
the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the
Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above."
In other words, the prophet tells this wicked, unbelieving king,
now just ask God for a sign and he'll give it to you. Somebody
said, well, wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after signs. Well, the thing about it is,
this was a wicked and adulterous man, Ahaz. But God promised him
a sign. He said, I'll give you a sign.
All you've got to do is ask. Now, signs are for unbelievers.
You see, if we believe, we have the Word of God. That's the foundation
of our faith. The Word of God. We believe what
God said. Abraham believed God. What did
he believe? Whatever God said, that's what
he believed. And he believed Him. And that's the foundation
of faith. How firm a foundation. We sing that song. What is the
foundation of our faith? What God says. But he said to
Ahaz, he said, I'll give you a sign. But look at Ahaz's response
in verse 12. Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither
will I tempt the Lord. Now, that was a religious statement. It was a statement of a hypocrite. He'd already tempted God when
he didn't believe God. When you don't believe what God
says, you tempt God. And that's wicked. But because
he didn't want to appear like he believed Isaiah, and he didn't
want to appear like he was torn between the two, he said, well,
I'm not going to ask for a sign. I'm not going to tempt God. Well,
that's just hypocrisy. So in verse 13, God says, well,
I'm going to give you a sign anyway. And he said, hear ye
now, O house of David. Now, notice here how he refers
to not just King Ahaz, but the house of David. That's important.
I brought this out Wednesday, but it's significant for tonight,
too. Now, listen to this. He says, is it a small thing
for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? God is
longsuffering toward the wicked. But let me tell you something.
There is a limit. There is a time. God was longsuffering
with Pharaoh. The book of Romans chapter 9
tells us that Pharaoh's time was up. Isn't that right? God
is longsuffering. But there is a limit. So he says
in verse 14, and this is our text now tonight, Therefore the
Lord himself shall give you a son. God's going to give you a son
in spite of Ahaz. He says, Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. That's the prophecy. And what
he's telling King Ahaz here is this, that Israel's whole existence
and welfare, as a nation, is virtually founded upon this one
great promise, and that is the promise of the Messiah and his
redemptive work. This is what it's all about,
Ahaz, and you've lost sight of it. You're sitting upon the throne
of David. Well, this one who is to come,
who is called Immanuel, He's of the lineage of David. He was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh. And that reaches
all the way back to the book of Genesis when God foretold
that little detail, but it's little in words, but it's huge
in its implications and in its glory. When he said the scepter
will not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. In other words,
this throne of David was not going to be destroyed and utterly
obliterated until the Prince of Peace comes and establishes
peace between God and sinners. So Ahaz, you have nothing to
fear. Why are you not believing God? Why are you not looking
to God? You're an unstable man. Why are you going to these idolatrous
nations of the North and trying to get them in on it to protect
you? You've got God to protect you. That's the issue here. He goes on, he says in verse
15, butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse
the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know
to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou
abhorrest, that is your enemies, shall be forsaken of both her
kings. He's referring to the nation of Syria there, and he's
referring to the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom. And he
said, by the time that all this comes about in your time, Ahaz,
and even up until the time of the Messiah, those two nations
will not even have a king. And that was true in both counts.
It was true a few years after this prophecy here, and it was
also true when the Messiah came, when Christ was born upon this
earth. The nation of Israel, the northern
kingdom, was gone. It was gone 500 years, just about
500 years before Christ came. And then also the nation Syria
at that time had no king, and it was virtually gone. So the
prophecy came true. There's not one prophecy in the
Word of God, by the way, that has not come true. There's some
yet to be fulfilled, but they've all come true. God has a 100%
record in that area, not like these charlatans that you read
about in the paper who maybe have a, who get it right some
of the time. God gets it right all the time
because he determines the end from the beginning. Now this,
we know that this prophecy here in verse 14 of Isaiah 7, we know
that it speaks of Jesus Christ because it says a virgin shall
conceive. Some scholars argue about that
term virgin. They say, well, that's a young
woman. Well, that's what a virgin is, a young woman there, and
it's one who's not married, who had not entered into relations
with a man, that's what it's talking about, that's the context.
And it says, a virgin shall conceive. Now, this is going to be a miraculous
conception. This is going to be the power
of God, you see. And the birth, he says, will
be a sign. He says, I'm giving you a sign.
This birth is a sign, a signification, not to Ahaz, because Ahaz perished
in unbelief, but to the house of David. You know, God preserved
the nation Judah and the throne of David up until the Messiah
come in spite of men like Ahaz who didn't believe and who turned
to idolatry. His promise is not conditioned
on sinners. I hear these people talking about
how they believe the Messiah has not yet come. But when Israel
is in obedience, then He'll come. There has never been any conditions
put upon the nation Israel that were contingent upon them that
the Messiah would come if they would or would not do this. God
made the promise. The time was His. The time was
set. And I'll show you that in just a moment. But as I said,
now this wasn't just addressed to a wicked, unbelieving king
named Ahaz individually, but it's addressed to the whole house
of David. Back up in verse 2 of Isaiah
7, he made that statement. He says, and it was told the
house of David, not just to this one king. And that's covenant
language. That's language that indicates
the throne. And as I said, reaches all the
way back to the book of Genesis, the scepter, the rule. will not
leave that house of David, the throne of David, until the Messiah
came. That's the language of the covenant
that God made with David himself, the royal covenant, that his
throne would be everlasting, not through David and not an
earthly throne, but through the King of kings and the Lord of
lords, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has an eternal kingdom. The
throne of David would be safe. and secure until the Messiah
comes and finishes his great work of redeeming his people
from their sins. We know also this speaks of Jesus
Christ because it says his name will be known as Immanuel. Now,
that could not be a name for any earthly king. That could
not be a name for any mere man, for it means God with us. Now,
turn to Matthew chapter 1. You know where this is shown
in the New Testament commentary here. In Matthew chapter 1, when
the angel came to Joseph to announce that his wife, Mary, was with
child, and Joseph, being a just man, did not want to make her
a public spectacle, but it says in verse 20 of Matthew chapter
1, look at this, he says, But while he thought on these things,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David. Now, Joseph was of the lineage
of David, so was Mary, his wife. They were both from that tribe
of Judah, the royal tribe. You see, the Messiah had to come
out of that tribe. He could not be born of a man,
but he had to come out of that tribe, the tribe of Judah. He couldn't be born of a man,
and you know why? Because he could not be born like you and
me, sinners. We were born in sin. Christ was
not born in sin. He did not have a sinful human
nature. He had a perfect human nature. Now, that's how he's identified
in the Old Testament. All through the sacrifices, all
through the times, all through the shadows. Don't we get it? We should. I mean, that's no
twist of a Hebrew verb. That's no turning of a point
of Hebrew punctuation. I mean, that is a doctrine that
is lined throughout the Old Testament. The sinless God-man. Now, look
at this. He says, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the
Trinity. He was the one. who brought about
this conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We don't know
how he did it, but he did it. And in verse 21, she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. And as I said,
now usually your concordance and most people say that means
Savior, but it means more than Savior, it means Jehovah saves,
God our Savior. For he shall, now look at this,
he shall save his people from their sin. He's not going to
try to save anybody. That's not His name. That's not
His nature. That's not His mission. His name,
His nature, and His mission is to save His people from their
sins. How is He going to do it? He's
going to stand in their place. He's going to take the punishment
they earned and deserved. He's going to substitute His
humanity upon the altar of His deity, as some say. But He's
going to save them from their sins. Now verse 22, Now all this
was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophets, saying, now he's quoting from Isaiah 7,14,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth
a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted,
here's what that means, God with us. Who is Jesus Christ? He is God with us. Brother Aaron
read in John chapter 1 of the Word, the living Word, the incarnate
Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 14, where you concluded
there, it says, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,
that means tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory full
of grace and truth. We know this speaks of Jesus
Christ. It can speak of no other. We
know that in speaking of Jesus Christ, this identifies him as
both God and man in one person. Now, there are three things that
are brought out back here in verse 14 of Isaiah 7. Number
one is his virgin birth. Number two is his holy, sinless
humanity. And number three is his glorious
name. I want you to look at these just
a moment. First of all, his virgin birth.
A virgin shall conceive. and bring forth a son. Go back
to Genesis chapter 3. You know, after man fell, Adam fell, God pronounced the curses. He pronounced the curse upon
the serpent, Satan. He pronounced the curse upon
the woman, and He pronounced the curse upon the man. And what
we need to understand now, the salvation from the curse is all
wrapped up in the promise of Christ. The salvation from the
curse that was pronounced upon the serpent, not salvation for
the serpent now, not salvation for Satan. I've heard preachers
say that, but it's not so. The salvation of his people will
be in the condemnation and destruction of the serpent. How's it going
to come about? Well, look at verse 15. He says,
and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed. Now, physiologically, that's
incorrect, isn't it? Because the woman has no seed.
The woman has the egg. The man has the seed. But this
woman is going to have seed. And it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his hip. What's he speaking of, the woman's
seed, the seed of woman? He's speaking of a person. He
is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be conceived
in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. Look back over
at Isaiah chapter 9. Now, here is an explanation of
it. He restates it virtually in Isaiah
7, verse 14 in the promise. But now, here is an explanation
of it. And I want to tell you something. Now, when I say an
explanation of it, I am not saying that, well, once you hear this
or read this, then you will understand how all this comes about, because
you won't. This is a miraculous thing. I believe sincerely that
this is something that the human mind cannot comprehend when we
speak of the person of Christ, his virgin birth, his holy humanity,
his glorious name, who he is. We know it so, we see the revelation
of God in Scripture, we believe it, but we can't really explain
it. But now here's what God says about it in Isaiah chapter 9,
look at verse 6. He says it this way, for unto
us a child is born. Now what's that speaking of?
That speaks of his humanity, the birth of a child. Humanity
is created. Now, Jesus Christ, in his deity,
was not created. In his deity, he has no beginning
and no end. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
But his humanity had a beginning. He said it in Hebrews chapter
10, A body hast thou prepared me. Who prepared it? The Holy
Spirit in the womb of the Virgin. And he says, this child is born,
but now unto us a Son is given. The Son was not born. You see,
whatever day it was, the Son of God was not born. He was given. It means He came. He was always the Son of God.
He's the second person of the Trinity. But He came and He united
with this holy humanity. And it says here, now it doesn't
separate him from his work, it says, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder, the government of grace. Salvation. God's kingdom. All the wealth,
the salvation, the redemption, the welfare of the kingdom of
God was placed squarely upon the shoulders of this child who
was born, this son who was given, this God-man. And his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. All these names that express
his glory in who he is and what he came to accomplish. Verse
7, of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.
That means he will not fail. That's what it means. He didn't
fail to save his people. These preachers will tell people
that, did he die in vain for you? He didn't die in vain for
anybody. In the increase of his government and peace, there will
be no end. He fulfilled it. He finished it. He loved his
own until the end, until the finishing of the work. For Christ
is the end of the law, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Every sinner for whom he died,
he saved. God justified them, that the
free gift is given to them. They will be born again. They're
chosen, redeemed, regenerated, you see. Now look here, he says,
upon the throne of David. This reaches back to the prophecy.
Who is this person? He's the king of kings. And upon
his kingdom, look here, he says, to order it. All the ordering
of it is up to him. To establish it with judgment
and with justice, God must be just when He justifies. He's
a merciful God, but He's also a God of truth. And He says,
"...from henceforth for evermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this." In other words, it's all conditioned on
Christ, not upon the sinner. Look over at Galatians chapter
4. Now, in order to accomplish this,
he had to be born of a virgin. He had to have a humanity. Look at Galatians chapter 4.
Now, he speaks of here the fullness
of the time in verse 4. Galatians 4, but when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son. Now, it doesn't
say here, when the fullness of the time was come, God made his
son, did it? It said he sent him forth. But
then it says he was made of a woman. That's his humanity. He was born
of a virgin, made of a woman, and he was made under the law.
He became responsible under the law for his people. Everything
that the law required of his people, Christ became responsible
for. That's what it means when it
says he was made under the law. In other words, the law requires
perfect obedience from me. With everything the law required
of me in perfect obedience, Christ became responsible for it. Well,
did he keep the law perfectly? You bet he did. And because I'm
a sinner, the law requires strict justice from me. Well, when Christ
was made under the law, he became responsible for my debt to the
law, and he paid it in full. That's what that means. Now,
he did that as God-man. Now, why did he do it? Verse
5, to redeem them that were under the law. To pay the price. To establish righteousness, you
see. Why? That we might receive the adoption
of sons. That we might be adopted into
the family of God, and in a way that honors his law and justice,
as well as his mercy and grace. And verse 6, and because you
are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. It's not what he's saying here
in verse 6. It's not the work of the Spirit in you that makes
you a son, a child of God. Christ made you a child of God
because you are sons. God sends forth His Spirit, the
Spirit of His Son, into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. What does that mean? That means
that's when you find out you're a child of God. That's when you
find out in the new birth that you were made a son. You were
adopted into God's family in Christ at Calvary. And you cry,
Abba, Father. That means you now see a relationship
with the Father that you never saw before. And then one more. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Now,
in order to accomplish that, he had to be born of a virgin.
If he was born of man, like us, then he was born a sinner. And
if he was a sinner, he could not have accomplished any of
the things that I've been reading to you from the Scriptures. It's
impossible for a man who is a sinner, and it is impossible for a man
who becomes a sinner, to do any of the things that I've read
to you from the Scriptures that he did. It could not happen. Now let me show you that. Look
at Hebrews chapter 2, and look at verse 14. It says, for as much then as
the children, his children, God's children, these sons, these adopted
in the family, are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. Now, what's the same there? Flesh
and blood. He had flesh, he had blood. Without the shedding of
blood, there's no remission of sins. He had to be born of a
virgin so that he could have a human body, flesh and blood. Now, that through death. He might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.
Remember what the seed of woman was going to do? It was going
to bruise the head of the serpent. He had to be born of a virgin.
He had to have a human body that he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil. He couldn't have done
it. Now, here's the second thing.
His holy humanity. Look back at Isaiah 7 for just
a minute. His virgin birth. Now, his holy
humanity. Now, these next two verses have
confused a lot of people, and sometimes you can read different
interpretations of it that will both seem right. But here's what
I think it's talking about here in verse 15. He speaks, he says,
"...butter and honey shall he," this is verse 15, "...that he
may know to choose the evil and choose the good." Most commentators
say that that confirms the real humanity of Christ. The one person
who is both God and man. And this is mind-boggling. It's
mind-boggling to me when you think about it. Two times in
the scripture when it's speaking of his youth. And we don't know
anything about his youth other than what the scripture says
in just a few verses. We know, for example, that one
time when they were in Jerusalem, Joseph and Mary, that he'd gotten
away from them and he was in the temple disputing with the
religious doctors. And when they came to get him
and they began to try him, he said, I must be about my father's
business. We know that part of it. Don't
know anything else. We know that the Bible says that
he grew in wisdom and stature. Now go home and for the rest
of your life, chew on that one. Because that is mind boggling.
Here's what it's actually saying. Now you think about it. He is
God with us. But now you think about him being
God, yet he was an infant. in the womb of his mother. He
was born from the womb of his mother. He was laid in a manger. All of that. He had to be fed,
just like you and I did, by his mother. He had to grow in wisdom
and stature. If you'll read the book of Proverbs
chapter 8, it speaks of everlasting wisdom personified. That's Christ. In other words, he was wisdom
before this world was ever created, yet when he was born in his holy
humanity, he had to grow in wisdom and stature. How do you explain
that? I cannot, and I've not seen any
philosopher, theologian, or doctor of religion who can. It's all
speculation. Usually, I'll tell you what happens
when men go to getting into that to try to explain it. They'll
either bring God down or raise man up, and it's deadly to do
either. They'll either attribute to God
things that don't belong to God, or attribute to man things that
don't belong to man. You can't explain it. But this
is what happened. And I believe that's what this
is teaching here in verse 15. That butter and honey shall he
eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
Now, one thing we know about our Savior, according to the
Scriptures, when He first appeared on the scene, And he came to
John the Baptist to be baptized. And he spoke with them, and he
spoke to John, and John baptized him. Immediately there was a
confirmation from the Father and the Spirit that this was
a perfect man. God the Father spoke from heaven,
and he said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Now, can you imagine? Can you imagine God the Father
being well pleased with anyone who is not perfect? It's impossible,
isn't it? You say, well, isn't God pleased
with His people? And we're sinners. He's pleased
with us in Christ. We're accepted where? In the
what? In the Beloved. That's the only
way you're accepted. That's the only way I'm accepted.
In the Beloved. If you see any acceptance for
yourself, With a holy God outside of Christ, that's self-righteousness.
That's what it is. That's religious pride. That's
Ahab's thinking, you see. I have no right, privilege, no
acceptance before a holy God but that which I have fully and
completely in my Savior. He is my righteousness. He is
my wisdom. He is my holiness. He is my redemption. Now, we say it, he's my all in
all. What is he? He either is or he
isn't. But the Father testified at his
baptism, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. That
is a testimony that this is a perfect man. And then the Holy Spirit
descended in the form of a dove. So you have the testimony both
of the Father and the Son, or all three, and the Holy Spirit.
When it says here that he may know to refuse the evil and choose
the good, our Lord always refused the evil and always chose the
good. Didn't He Himself tell His disciples,
I always do the will of Him that sent me? He sure did, didn't
He? And He always did. He said, this
is my meat to do the will of Him that sent me. This is my
delight. the perfect God-man, his holy
humanity. Even when he was in his mother's
womb, he was described by the angel of the Lord as that holy
thing. Now, holiness has different meanings.
Sometimes it means something that is separated and set apart.
We sing silent night, holy night. Somebody might have been thinking,
well, there's nothing holy about a night. Yes, there was, my friend. That night, or whenever it was.
Now, I don't know the date and I don't care. That's not my issue.
But there was a day that was set apart by God for our Lord
to be made flesh. Now wasn't there? In the fullness
of the what? Time. God sent forth His Son. Nothing inherently moral or pure
about a night or a day. Sometimes the vessels of the
tabernacle are described by the Holy Spirit as being holy. There's
nothing inherently holy about a piece of furniture anywhere.
But that piece of furniture was to be set apart and used only
for one purpose, and that's why it's said to be holy. But Christ
was inherently holy in his thoughts, in his mind, in his heart, in
every way. He knew all things from the beginning because he
decreed all things from the beginning, and yet he grew in knowledge
and stature. How can that be? Well, one must
be attributed to his deity. The other must be attributed
to his humanity. Yet it was an act of his entire
person. As I said before, go home and
chew on that for the rest of your life. It's an amazing thing,
isn't it? What a Savior. What a Savior. It shows that Christ – what does
all this mean for us now? Where do we kind of grab hold
of this? Well, I'll tell you where. Because it shows us two
things. It shows us, first of all, that
He could identify with us in our name and in our nature, yet
without sin. Now, let me show you that. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 4. Now, this is very important if we
have any understanding of what the truth is in this matter of
who Christ is. He's the Immanuel now. Always
remember that. He's God with us. There's never
a time in his life that you can say, well, now, he stopped being
man here, or that he stopped being God here. You can't say
that. And even now, he's God-man. Seated
at the right hand, he's God-man. He's God with us. He's Immanuel. And so, it means two things to
us. So I look here in verse 14 of
Hebrews chapter 4. Now, here's one thing it means.
It means, seeing then that we have a great high priest, that
is passed into the heavens. Literally, that means passed
through the heavens. What does that mean? It means
he went to God. And he said, Jesus, the Son of God. His name
shall be called Jesus. He's the Son of God. He's God
with us. Now let us hold fast our profession. Now look here,
verse 15. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That's our weaknesses. but was
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Now,
what does that mean? That means he could identify
with us in our name and in our nature. He sorrowed. In his holy
humanity, he had pain, he had sorrow, he got tired, he got
hungry, all the infirmities. Now, he did it differently than
we did, or than we do. He did it without sin. But he
still suffered. And His suffering on the cross,
it was not fake. Sin was charged to Him, and as
a result of that, the wrath of God was poured down upon Him,
and in every fiber of His being, He felt the pain and the agony
and the sorrow of what it is to go through condemnation and
judgment under the wrath of His Father. We can't even begin to
describe it. You can't make a movie about
that. There's no movie that could even come close to depicting
the soul suffering of our Savior. You agree with that? You can't
even begin to imagine what it would be like. Yet He did it
without sin in Himself. In other words, all that time
He was going through that suffering, all that time He was walking
this earth even before His crucifixion, He never had a sinful thought.
His ideas, his thoughts, his heart, his love for the Father,
it was never, never, never contaminated with our depravity. He's God
with us. How could it be? He's God with
us. He's Emmanuel, you see? So he says in verse 16, Let us
therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Through
him, see, we can obtain mercy and help. And then here's the
second thing that it means. Look over at Hebrews chapter
7. Now, he's comparing Christ or literally contrasting Christ
and his priesthood with the human priesthood of Aaron, showing
how that was weak, it was imperfect, It was changeable. It never put
away sin. But he says in verse 24 of Hebrews
7, But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. How could there be an unchangeable
priesthood unless the priest is God-man? No mere man could
be the priest if it's unchangeable. If it's a mere man who's a priest,
it's got to be changeable. Isn't that right? It had to be
God. So he says in verse 25, and here's
the second thing that means, Wherefore he is able. He is able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest
became us. In other words, he meets my need.
He's fitting for me, who's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, made higher than the heavens, who needeth not
daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for
his own sins and then for the people's." He didn't have to
go to the cross for his own sins and then for us. It says, for
this he did once. He went to the cross one time
when he offered up himself for his people. That's what it means. He's God with us. Look at this last thing, His
glorious name. His name is Immanuel. Let me
give you these things in closing. Immanuel, God with us. He's God
with us in our name and in our nature. I've already shown you
that. You say, well, nobody, you know, they used to sing that
old spiritual, nobody knows the troubles I've seen. Nobody knows.
But gee, in a way that's true. because he's experienced the
sorrows and the sufferings of humanity like nobody else. Yet
he is God with us. He's God with us in his presence.
He told his disciples before he ascended unto the Father,
he said, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
He told them, he said, for where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. He said, I'll
never forsake you nor leave you. Christ dwells within us by his
Spirit and by his Word. When he went to the Father, now
seated at the right hand of the Father as God-man even now, he
sent the Spirit as our comforter who leads us to him. And he gave
us his Word which was implanted upon our hearts. He's God with
us in favor and acceptance. One passage that we quote so
often in Romans chapter 8, who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. And He's God with us
in protection and provision and preservation. I love that passage
in Colossians 3 when it speaks of our life is hid with Christ
in God. We're protected. That doesn't
mean we're hidden away. It means we're protected. It
means we're provided for. He's the bread of life. He's
our sustenance. That means he preserves us. He'll
keep us. That's what it means. God with
us. Emmanuel. Thank God. that the word was
made flesh and tabernacled among us.