Turn with me, please, to the
seventh chapter of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 7. I'm going to use this as a starting
place. When I began making these notes,
I wanted to look at the names of God. But as I researched that,
I soon realized that that was going to be a lengthy task, and
we would be here for quite some time, so I decided to look at
one name that our God has given. In Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14 says, Therefore, the
Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. I've titled
this message just that, Call His Name, Emmanuel. Turn with me to the first chapter
of Matthew. The first chapter of Matthew. We
begin reading in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise. when, as his mother Mary was
a spouse to Joseph, before they came together she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. 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, Fear not to take
unto thee, marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins." Now all this was done that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet which
we just read. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Immanuel. And here we are given the meaning
of that name, which, being interpreted, is God with us. Then Joseph,
being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had
bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not, till
she had brought forth her firstborn son, and He called his name Jesus. Now when this was stated in Isaiah,
it was simply stated as a fact that this is what would happen,
that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. And not until
we read in Matthew chapter 1 do we know the meaning of that name,
Emmanuel. And we're given that interpretation.
Otherwise, if we had not been able to read Hebrew, we would
have no idea what it means. No one before or since had ever
been called by that name for obvious reasons. No man had ever
been born of a virgin. No man had ever claimed to be
God in human flesh. Many men had claimed to be a
god, small g, and deemed themselves worthy of worship. But in this
instance, we find God Himself, through His prophet Isaiah, promising
the Jews that He, God, would walk among them, God with us. When He was called Emmanuel,
it is followed by an explanation, which being interpreted is God
with us. Our Lord did not want us to miss
the profound magnificence of what was being said. This is
God Himself. come to earth in a human body,
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. There are other times
when the name of the Lord is interpreted. In John 1.41, it
tells us that Andrew told his brother Simon Peter that he had,
quote, found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ. We also read in Hebrews 7, verse
2, concerning Melchizedek, whom was a pre-incarnation of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that His name, by interpretation, is King of
Peace. And we read one other instance
in the life of our Lord where His name was interpreted so that
all that read it could understand the meaning of that name. We
read in Matthew 27, 37, concerning the crucifixion of our Lord,
that a sign was set up over His head, speaking to Christ when
He hung on the tree. His accusation written, this
is Jesus, the King of the Jews. And Luke 23, 38 says that it
was written, it was translated, it was interpreted in Greek,
Hebrew, and Latin. And being in those three languages,
it was guaranteed that everyone who saw Him that day hanging
between heaven and earth, could understand the interpretation
of what was written, this is King Jesus. And it was meant
as a mockery of slapping the faces of the Jews by Pontius
Pilate, but it was indeed a true statement. Now we as believers
read this name and rejoice because we understand that God with us
was the God-man, Jesus Christ, whose coming secured our eternal
salvation. But you have to understand, when
the Jews read this prophecy that we find in Isaiah 7.14, they
must have thought, among other things, rather than being a blessed
event, that this would be a terrifying thing to happen, to have God
with us. They were very familiar with
the Scriptures that said, no man can see God's face and live. In Judges 13.22, after the angel
of the Lord which was Christ, had appeared unto Samson's mother
and father, Manoah, his father, said to his wife, We shall surely
die, because we have seen God. Israel asked Moses to speak to
God for them, because they feared. God told Moses in Exodus 33.20,
Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and
live. John 1.18 reads, No man has seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him. And 1 John
4.12 tells us the same thing. No man has seen God at any time. And Paul wrote in 1 Timothy that
God is dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto,
whom no man has seen nor can see. And John 6, 45 and 46 also
tells us that every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned
of the Father cometh unto me, this is Christ speaking. Not
that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath
seen the Father. And in Exodus 20, we read how
the people of Israel saw the thunderings and the lightnings
and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And
when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us,
lest we die. Over and over again, we are told
that no man can see God and live. Yet, countless men and women
looked upon Christ as He lived in this earth in a human body
and lived. But that was because He was veiled
in human flesh. Therefore, they were able to
look upon Him and not die. So much did He abase Himself
when He came in human flesh that Isaiah tells us that He hath
no form nor comeliness, and when we see Him there is no beauty,
that we should desire Him. And what form did Christ take
on when He became flesh and blood? Not the form of a great exalted
King, as we would expect. But we're told in Philippians
chapter 2, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and
took on Him the form of a servant, the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion as
a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even
to the death of the cross. You would think that if the God
of heaven chose to come and visit His creation, that He would come
as an exalted, magnificent, majestic King. But He tells us that His
thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. Therefore,
when our Lord came to earth, He came as a servant, not to
be served, but to serve. We don't have to look upon God
our Savior now with fear, because He came to us in the form of
a man. Our God now gives us a view of
Himself in Christ which we could not have before. Turn with me
over to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We have a view of Christ. which
we previously did not have. Starting in verse 3, Paul writes,
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the mind of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
who is the image of God should shine unto them. For we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. We no longer are forbidden to
look upon God, but rather encouraged to see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. We are now commanded as those
Jews that were bitten by the fiery serpents to look and live. When we read these words, God
with us, it means not only that He walked among us, but it implies
that He was here to partake fully in everything that it meant to
be human. to become, through experience,
everything that we are, yet without sin. God, we are told, is omnipresent,
meaning He is everywhere at once. Yet, enclosed in a human body,
our Lord was limited to being only one place at once. But certainly
His power was never limited. He had the ear of the Father
in every request that He ever made, every prayer that He ever
prayed was answered by the Father, because Christ's will was in
perfect accord with the Father's will. Everything about His coming
is supernatural, from His conception to His birth, and throughout
His life, and even His death. And yet, how can we say that
His death was supernatural when He died just like every other
man who had ever lived? Because God cannot die. Therefore, He had to come in
a human body so that He could die. All that is contained in
the Person of God, all the majesty and the power, was condensed
into a human body. Christ had to come as a man to
be a sacrifice, a bloody sacrifice, because the Scriptures tell us
that the life is in the blood. Our life, our eternal life, is
purchased by His blood. And the Scripture also tells
us that without shedding of blood is no remission of sin. But since
we are told in Hebrews 10.4 that it is not possible, that the
blood of a bull and goat should take away sin, it became necessary
for Christ to come in a body to become a sacrifice that actually
could take away sins. Verse 5 states, a body hast thou
prepared me. And verse 10 tells us the result
of that body becoming an effectual sacrifice because it says, by
the witch will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy
3.16, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Until he became flesh and blood,
Christ had never known what hunger felt like. He had never known
what a headache was. He had never known what it felt
like to cut himself and bleed human blood, what pain felt like,
what sore muscles that had been overworked felt like, what fatigue
after walking for miles felt like, what it was to be so parched
that on the cross he cried out, I thirst. He had experienced
all this and more. He had experienced human emotions,
joy, sorrow, which he had never known while he was in the bosom
of the Father, where we're told that he was daily his delight. He experienced heartbreak at
the betrayal of a friend. He experienced elation and despondency,
all so that he could become the perfect advocate and experience
all that we experience yet without sin. And this is especially comforting
when it comes to our experience of suffering sorrow. Christ was
called a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This is how he spent the majority
of his time. With grief and sorrow as his
constant companion. For when your heart is breaking,
dear saint, take comfort in the fact that your Lord, when He
was here on earth, experienced a sorrow beyond any sorrow you
will ever know. When He was here at Emmanuel,
as God with us, experienced sorrow at a level we will never feel.
This is why we read that He is touched. by the feeling of our
infirmities, as we're told in Hebrews 4.15. And because he
felt every pain of heartbreak and sorrow, which we feel, the
next verse in Hebrews encourages us to come boldly to the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find help, or find
grace to help. and in the time of need. And
as much as we try to sympathize with our friends as they're going
through heartbreak, many times we cannot truly enter
in to what it is they're feeling because we've never lost a spouse,
as many of you have. We've never lost a child, as
Jimmy recently has. We've never watched a loved one
slowly devoured by some terrible disease like so many of our friends
have gone through. But it's good to know that there
is one who can sympathize, because he has experienced all the heartache
and more, far beyond anything that we will ever experience.
We're told in Hebrews 2.16 that He is able to succor us. S-O-C-C-O-R. This word, succor,
means to give assistance in time of grief or distress. To run to the rescue of. To bring
aid. Our God makes us some amazing
promises in the book of Isaiah chapter 43. Turn there with me. Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. We'll read the first 11 verses. Isaiah 43,
verse 1, But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O
Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have
redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flames kindle
upon thee. Why? For I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Since I was precious in my sight,
thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore,
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, Keep not back. Bring my sons from
afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone is
called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have
formed him, yea, I have made him. Bring forth the blind people
that have eyes, the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations
be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who
among them can declare this and show us former things. Let them bring forth their witnesses,
that they may be justified. For let them hear and say, it
is truth. You are my witnesses, saith the
Lord my servant, whom I have chosen, that ye may know and
believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there is no
God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside
Me there is no Savior." He promises in these verses, verse 2, He
says, I will be with thee. And in verse 5, He says, I am
with thee. God with us, Emmanuel. God with us also means that He
is ever at our side. Christ promised, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. He told His disciples in John
14, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter that He may abide with you forever. And then in verse
18, He says, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come
to you. Verse 23 says, and if any man
love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him,
and We will come unto him and make our abode with Him. Emmanuel, God with us. This word with means in the company
of, to be beside of, or next to. That's a blessed thing to
know in time of need. Christ said in Matthew 20, 28,
Behold, I am with you always. Psalm 46, 7, the Lord of hosts
is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Deuteronomy 31.8, and the Lord. He it is that doth go before
thee. He will be with thee. He will not fail thee, neither
forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed. And as He made these promises
to Joshua, so He makes them also to us. In Joshua 1.5, He says,
any man be able to stand before Thee all the days of my life. As I was with Moses, so I will
be with Thee. I will not fail Thee, nor forsake
Thee. And he tells him in verse 9,
Have I not commanded thee, Be strong, and be of good courage? Be not afraid, neither be dismayed,
for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. And he promised Abraham in Genesis
28, 15, And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all
places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again to this
land. For I will not leave thee until I have done that which
I have spoken of thee. And he told Moses in Exodus 33,
14, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he tells the nation of Israel
in Leviticus 26, I will walk among you, God with us. And we'll be your God, and you
shall be my people. And Revelation 21, verse 3 speaks
of a time when there is no more time. And even then, God is with
us. Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men. And He shall dwell with them,
and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with
them and be their God. And His promise of God being
with us, our God never forsaking or leaving us, will be especially
sweet when it comes time to die. Our Lord Jesus Christ and His
experience of coming into flesh also suffered as well. Christ
knows what it is to die. And His death was unlike the
death that we will die. What He experienced, we will
never experience because He died completely alone. Completely
forsaken by His disciples and His Father. God's saints will
never find themselves crying out as our Lord once did, My
God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me? We will never experience
such a fate as Christ, because He promised to be with us to
the end, to the end of our lives and to the end of this world.
And we have this promise in Psalm 116, verse 15. Precious, In the sight of the Lord is the
death of his saints. He is precious because he is
ought to welcome home one more of his children for whom he shed his blood. His
saints are precious to him because of the unimaginable cost of the
ransom of their souls. The strictness of the law, which
makes it impossible for men to be saved by their works, required
that Christ come as Emmanuel, as a human man, to fulfill the
demands of the law for us. Romans 8-3 tells us, For what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. God was dealing with two
races of fallen beings, men and angels. Christ could have chosen to save
the race of fallen angels, but he chose instead to save the
race of fallen men. The race of man fell on one man,
Adam, who was our representative of the entire human race because
all men were in him. None of them had yet been born,
but because of Adam's transgression, they were deemed as guilty as
he. Therefore, in like manner, Christ
could act as a representative of the entire race of his people,
the elect, and die once to redeem them. since they were also in
Him representatively. But unlike the human race which
fell in a representative, the angels that fell, fell individually
by their own individual choice when they joined Satan in his
rebellion against God. They, unlike us, had no federal
head. Therefore, in order to redeem
them, Christ would have had to die over and over to redeem each
one of them individually. And speaking of angels, there
are many instances in the scripture where angels came to earth in
the form of men. And even though those times were
extraordinary, It was never such an epic event that it was announced
by angels to men as was the birth of our Lord. Coming in human
flesh was like no other event that ever took place before or
after. Emmanuel is not the only name
whereby He was called, but to me it's the most blessed. How
can we not give thanks and have hope to endure all things for
the Gospel's sake when we're told that God is with us. He's called many names in the
Old Testament. El Shaddai, the Lord God Almighty. El Airon, the mighty, most high
God. Jehovah Nishi, the Lord, my bearer. Jehovah Ra, the Lord, my shepherd. Jehovah Rafa, the Lord that heals. Jehovah Shama, the Lord is there. Jehovah Sekinyu, the Lord, our
righteousness. El Olam, the everlasting God. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is peace. Jehovah Sabbath, the Lord of
hosts. We read in Isaiah 9.6, For unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders. and His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace." Throughout the four Gospels, we read our
Lord describing Himself as the Light of the World, the Bread
of Life, the Door, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection, the Way, the
Truth, the Life, and the True Vine. And Peter confessed that
He is the Christ the Son of the Living God. And as spectacular
as all those names are in just giving us a glimpse into the
majesty and power of our God, none are as comforting as His
name, Emmanuel, God with us. God at our side, walking with
us through this life. God with us when we gather to
worship. Christ promises in Matthew 18-20 that where two or three
are gathered, In My name there am I, God with us. There am I in the midst of them. Lastly, this term, God with us,
should give us hope and courage as we go forth spreading the
gospel. Christ, in Matthew 28, 18-20, gave His disciples what
is commonly called the Great Commission. It says, And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go, therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. And that commandment is not just
given exclusively to disciples, it is given to us as well. And
He does not send us alone, He promises to go with us. Emmanuel, God with us. I hope the Lord has blessed that
to your heart. Lord willing, Aaron Greenleaf will be with
us this coming Lord's Day. So be in prayer for Aaron as
he makes preparations to preach the Gospel to us.