SARAH IVILL | CONTRIBUTOR

With all the bells and bows, presents and programs, musicals and melodies of the Christmas season, there is no truth more comforting than the promise that God is with us. For many of us, the season can spark sorrow that seems to threaten our joy. How wonderful, then, that we can focus on the truth of God’s presence.

One of the many passages of Scripture in which this truth is revealed is Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God is with us].” In the broader context of this verse (Isa. 6:1-7:17) we learn several important truths about the God we celebrate during Advent. First, He is great, glorious, and holy. Second, as the holy God, He is completely different than anyone or anything else. Third, He reigns over the entire world. There is no king like Him in all the earth. Fourth, no one can stand before Him apart from His Son, Jesus Christ. Finally, God’s Son will atone for the sins of God’s people.

In the more immediate context of Isaiah 7:14, the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz, who reigned over Judah at the time, with a difficult message: Israel and Syria would be destroyed. However, the Lord would preserve a remnant of true worshipers. Furthermore, the Lord gave Ahaz a sign. A virgin would conceive and bear a son who would be named “Immanuel [God is with us]” (Isa. 7:14). He would refuse to do evil and only choose to do good. This sign served as a guarantee that the king of Assyria would shatter both Israel and Syria, but in the midst of the darkness, God’s presence and God’s people would prevail.

When we come to Matthew’s gospel account in the New Testament, he makes it clear that Jesus’s birth is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. He begins by informing us that the angel of the Lord told Joseph three things in a dream. First, he should not fear taking Mary as his wife (Matt. 1:20). Second, she was innocent and pure because conception had occurred by the Holy Spirit (v. 20). Finally, the Son she would bear was to be named Jesus because He was the Savior (v. 21). Then he went on to quote from the prophet Isaiah.

By quoting from Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (Matt. 1:23), Matthew also directs the reader to the broader context of Isaiah, most notably Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…and his name shall be called…Mighty God.” By quoting from this portion of Isaiah, Matthew makes it clear that the birth of Jesus was planned from long ago to fulfill the purposes of God. The promise of God’s presence, which is the crux of the covenant of grace, is most clearly seen in the Immanuel principle (God is with us). No wonder Joseph did not hesitate to obey the Lord. By faith he believed what the angel had spoken, took Mary as his wife, kept her pure until after she had given birth, and called their son’s name Jesus.

These passages of Scripture remind us of two important truths. First, when we find it hard to stand firm in the face of fear, we can recall the truth that our great King is holy and reigns over the entire world. When the phone call comes from the doctor’s office that something threatens us or our loved one’s health, or we learn that our husband has been unfaithful, or someone we thought was a friend harms us, or our child rebels against our rules and walks away from our relationship once held dear, or we wonder if our developmentally delayed child will ever catch up to his peers, we can be sure that God is with us. We need not fear difficult circumstances when God is on our side. Christ is the sign of all signs that God is indeed present with us.

Second, following God’s ways is not easy. There are times when He asks us to do something that is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or even threatens our reputation. Yet when God’s plans don’t make sense to us, we can trust Him and obey His commands. Often Scripture, counsel from godly people, and the passing of time brings things to greater clarity. But even when they don’t, we can know that our heavenly Father does all things well, including providentially orchestrating our daily lives.

When we are tempted to fear instead of walking by faith, we remember the truth that God is with us. Nothing has shown us this more clearly than God’s gift of His Son whom He sent, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In the midst of the bells and bows, presents and programs, musicals and melodies this Christmas season, let us take time to stop and ponder the glorious truth of God’s presence.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash