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Tag: immanuel

  • Emmanuel -1

    Emmanuel -1

    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.

    a baby born - is he Immanuel - God with us?

    Look upon the face of innocence, sinlessness flesh born of man, who would remain without sin, a Sacrifice for our redemption.

    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...

  • and new things I now declare – 4

    Isaiah 48:

    3 “The former things I declared of old;
        they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
        then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
    4 Because I know that you are obstinate,
        and your neck is an iron sinew
        and your forehead brass,
    5 I declared them to you from of old,
        before they came to pass I announced them to you…

    The Lord Declared

    I told you this a long time ago and to your ancestors many times.

    How do you like that? The Lord calls His chosen people, Israel or Jacob as they are called, obstinate.

    “You stiff-necked people!” the Messiah would call Temple officials generations after Isaiah. “You with ears to hear,” declare the prophets. What an indictment of a holy people supposedly separated to the Lord and redeemed again and again!

     6 “You have heard; now see all this;
        and will you not declare it?

    [ctt title=” From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.” tweet=”for a Savior of Jacob and the nations is born – the Messiah Jesus” coverup=”Rf04b”]

    7 They are created now, not long ago;
        before today you have never heard of them,
        lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
    8 You have never heard, you have never known,
        from of old your ear has not been opened.

    The Lord’s Call to Israel

    [ctt title=”Isaiah 48:12 שְׁמַע אֵלַי יַֽעֲקֹב וְיִשְׂרָאֵל מְקֹרָאִי אֲנִי־הוּא אֲנִי רִאשֹׁון אַף אֲנִי אַחֲרֹֽון׃” tweet=”Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel.. The Messiah I AM is Christ Jesus.” coverup=”j14zE”]

    14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
    Who among them has declared these things?

     The Lord’s Call to the Nations

    Isaiah 49:

    Listen to me, O coastlands,
        and give attention, you peoples from afar.
    The Lord called me from the womb,
        from the body of my mother he named my name.

    Matthew 1:20b-23

    … behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

    She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

    All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

    Isaiah 52:

    8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
        together they sing for joy;
    for eye to eye they see
        the return of the Lord to Zion.
    9 Break forth together into singing,
        you waste places of Jerusalem,
    for the Lord has comforted his people;
        he has redeemed Jerusalem.
    10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
        before the eyes of all the nations,
    and all the ends of the earth shall see
        the salvation of our God.

    The Sin-Bearing Servant

    Isaiah 52: NKJV

    13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently;
    He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
    14 Just as many were astonished at you,
    So His visage was marred more than any man,
    And His form more than the sons of men;
    15 So shall He sprinkle many nations.

    Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
    For what had not been told them they shall see,
    And what they had not heard they shall consider.

    An Advent Declared for these last days..

    New things we now declare; for the completion of these last days approaches with haste. The prophets and watchmen of the past have spoken what was and is and is to come. The LORD has revealed the hope of redemption for all who believe and the just punishment of souls tormented in the dust.

    Revelation 22:12-13 ESV

    [ctt title=”“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”” tweet=”An Advent Declared for these last days.. http://ctt.ec/o6OBb+” coverup=”o6OBb”]

    Have you prepared your heart for Christmas? Would you like to celebrate the gift of our humble Lord born a sinless Son of Man, to a virgin – our redeemer sacrificed on a cross? In the advent of His return at the end of these last days, do you bow before the Almighty, rejoicing in the light of His coming on the clouds?

    “You have heard; now see all this;
    and will you not declare it?

    Isaiah 48:6a ESV

  • Christ’s Corporate Community – a Christmas Question

    Christ’s Corporate Community – a Christmas Question

    Isaiah 7

    13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

    14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

    15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

     

    Will you weary my God also? It is the question of the Prophet.  It is the question of the fervent preacher of the Lord’s convicting word. It is the question of Jesus to the ‘church crowd.’

    Mark 7: 6 He [Jesus] answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

    ‘This people honors Me with their lips,
    But their heart is far from Me.
    7 And in vain they worship Me,
    Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
    8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…

    9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition….

    … And many such things you do.”

    14 When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

    The fervent preacher asks a church part-full of those who prefer to have their ears tickled with familiar music and familiar ‘worship,’ “WHY do we hold to our Christian ‘traditions?’”

    The challenge of of the prophet Isaiah would be, ‘Does that which makes us feel good weary our Lord God?’

    Isaiah and Jesus were not preaching to the gentiles here, but to those who claim to follow God.

    The fervent question of the preacher is not for the unchurched or occasional visitor, but a challenge to each of us who attend church to listen to teaching from the Bible.

    Answer this, dear brother, dear sister in Christ: WHY do our churches hold to such things for an hour (on most Sundays) and pour defilement from unclean lips the rest of the week?

    Have we become so familiar with Jesus Christ that we do not even know Him?

    “Behold, a virgin shall conceive…” we witness as audience of our annual Christmas pageants. Our “Christian” traditions (like those against which Jesus later warned the Pharisees) have renewed our warm-fuzzy feelings about Christmas. Yes, Christmas is about BABY jesus.

    (‘We say, ‘Merry christmas,’ not ‘happy holidays.’ Everybody knows I’m a good christian who knows what Christmas is all about. I even buy presents for some of my family and sing christmas songs. ‘ I usually go to church on Christmas eve, too.)

    But will you weary my God, also?

    “Fear not,” say the angels in the Christmas pageant, so we do not even fear the LORD GOD!

    Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. God with us!

    God is ‘with us’ in Jesus Christ. He was born a man (like you and me) and lived and lives yet! Jesus IS God with us.

    Jesus exuded love. God is love. God so loved the world… (etc. etc.)

    Yet are you so familiar with Jesus that you will not humbly bow down to Him as your Lord?

    If the President of the US, or Prime Minister or King of a country were, in this moment of time, literally in the room with you; would you not at least show some humility and respect to their position and office?

    Would you not at least show a superstar or sporting hero acknowledgement of their greatness of accomplishment by comparison to your own, though for a time they appeared as a mortal person ‘with us’ in your very company?

    If Jesus had shown up in your gathering (for something else) today as ‘God with us, Immanuel,’ would you not listen to what He asked you in Person and consider your answer as if the words of your mouth have eternal consequence?

    If Jesus were in the room, will you weary my God also?

    Why do we not apply the lessons Jesus so often taught us in the Gospels?

    Why do we weary the body of Christ, His church, by our hardheartedness toward one other?

    Are we any better than Ahaz, to whom the Lord sent Isaiah? Are we any better than the Pharisees, to whom the Father sent the Son?

    Consider our ‘traditions’ of Christmas, how by them even christians may have forgotten Christ.

    Isaiah’s continued prophesy would be unfamiliar to us, yet perhaps time is near for Christians and the world to consider it.

    Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

    15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

    Butter and Honey

    We must understand the meaning of the Prophet. It is not butter for bread to which Isaiah refers, but rather, curdled milk, the acid of which is grateful in the heat of the East.

    Isaiah has used a metaphor from the sermon of Zophar on the wicked man, preaching to the righteous man, Job, with the Messiah of God being the antithesis of all things evil.

    Job 20:17 He will not see the streams,
    The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

    Isaiah refers to the sweetness of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, whom we would know as a humble man like us. Though Israel was the land of milk and honey; though the sweetness of Jesus’ heart spoke kindly of the lost souls of His beloved sheep of the remnant and we of pastures of the Nations – though Jesus is our sweet Redeemer, He IS God Immanuel: Jesus IS Lord, KING over the Kingdom of all creation.

    May we have the acid of gratefulness for Immanuel, the refining fire of our souls.

    Another note of research on this passage from the Prophet Isaiah points out that honey is abundant in Palestine. ‘ Physicians directed that the first food given to a child should be honey, the next milk [BARNABAS, Epistle]. HORSLEY takes this as implying the real humanity of the Immanuel Jesus Christ, about to be fed as other infants ( Luk 2:52 ). Isa 7:22 shows that besides the fitness of milk and honey for children, a state of distress of the inhabitants is also implied, when, by reason of the invaders, milk and honey, things produced spontaneously, shall be the only abundant articles of food [MAURER].

    Did our Lord not eat the sweetness of scripture? Did our Lord Immanuel not refuse and rebuke evil in every instance? Did our Lord Christ Immanuel not instruct us to choose good, do good, speak good and witness the good known only in His Name?

    If all is taken from us, do we not have the butter and honey of Christ’s righteousness?

    If a man take all our earthly goods, if a man take our mortal life; do we not have in Christ Jesus, life eternal?

    Will Christ Jesus Emmanuel not judge all the earth with fire? Will the Lord not bring forth the Kingdom of Heaven and the reward of righteousness for those who obey the Word of the Lord?

    to be continued…