Emmanuel

7:14 לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא לָכֶם אֹות הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן וְקָרָאת שְׁמֹו עִמָּנוּ אֵֽל׃

prophesy of Isaiah [יְשַׁעְיָה – Yĕsha`yah]

Emmanuel – I AM: born a man, GOD for us

As I have written previously, contemporary celebrations of Christmas have been much overblown in our worldly “christian” pageants, performances and present-buying excesses. Our sins of false witness in this season go back centuries and as I also mentioned earlier at one time celebrations of Christmas were actually outlawed by Puritans and other Christian believers. Furthermore, Christmas was never celebrated by believers of the early church.

Christmas isn’t the important story of Good News, but every story must have a beginning, even the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

I do not assume that all Christians will know the full biblical meaning of many common 'christian' terms. If you don't know one, go ahead: click on the secure link and look it up. RH

The Gospel Stories of Christmas

Mark

1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

Mark simply begins from the prophesy of Isaiah (as I have above), proceeds to the witness of John the Baptist that Jesus is the Messiah, then tells of the grown man, Jesus in His ministry to us as the Son of Man. No mentions of the virgin birth which all knew to be prophesied by Isaiah and no ‘nativity scene,’ by which we have become so enthralled. 

Although he makes no mention of Jesus’ birth, Mark clearly witnesses in his Gospel that Jesus IS who He says He is: the Son of Man.

Mark 14:61b

Again the high priest questioned him,

“Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? ”

“I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Mark 14:62

John

We rarely hear from the beginning of John’s gospel during the Christmas season, because like Mark, John offers no nativity narrative. 

John doesn’t approach his Gospel as “Good News” or “glad tidings,” but rather explains a more personal relationship with Jesus.

I must confess my personal preference to John’s look back at the beginning of the Good News of Christ. For after all, if Jesus IS GOD, then His story does not begin in a manger.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

A remarkable reference to Christ! In the beginning, is of course a reiteration of the opening of Genesis. God creates by speaking and John refers to Jesus as “the Word,” or logos. John places Jesus “with God,” then continues with the inescapable premise:  and the Word was God.

Therefore, John states of the time of creation, Jesus IS God!

John’s singular reference to the birth of Christ occurs after the introduction of John the Baptist, explaining how Jesus came to us as the Son of Man, to whom the Baptist had already testified.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

Immanuel – עִמָּנוּאֵל 

Immanuel (Hebrew: עִמָּנוּאֵל‬ meaning, “God with us”; also romanized Emmanuel) – Wikipedia

The name of Immanuel, clearly referred in the Gospels, originates in the scriptures of the Old Testament from the book of Isaiah. 

Immanuel = “God with us” or “with us is God”

Blueletterbible.org 

• symbolic and prophetic name of the Messiah, the Christ, prophesying that He would be born of a virgin and would be ‘God with us’

“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14 CSB

In two of the four Gospels we have no mention of the nativity or birth of Jesus.

Our Christmas traditions, teachings, songs, stories (and yes, myths and false impressions) all come from the two remaining Gospels, Matthew and Luke.

Yet in all, Emmanuel appears, God as a man. And all mankind begins as newborn babies. In this very personal sense, God becomes a man like us – God With Us.

To be continued...