READ:

Matthew 1:23b

^23b And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

EXHORTATION:

Jesus, the virgin-born Son, shall also be called “Emmanuel”. This was predicted by the prophet Isaiah. The ancient people of God had been awaiting the fulfilment of this amazing prophecy with great anticipation.

Though it says here that “they shall call his name Emmanuel”, we know of none in the Bible who calls Him by that name. He has been addressed mostly by the name “Jesus”. The meaning of the statement is not that he would be commonly known and called by such a name. Instead, the actual intent of this statement is that people would acknowledge the truth about Jesus, which is revealed by the name “Emmanuel”. This Hebrew name “Emmanuel” means “God with us”. Not only His supernatural virgin birth, but also His presence, His words, His works and all about Him, would give evidence that He is God who has come to be with man.

The apostle John in his Gospel gave witness to the fact that Jesus is God who dwelt with man, when he declared: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

In Christ, the actual presence of God has come to be with His people. It is not His shadowy presence, as it was before. As Paul says in Colossians 2:9, “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” He also said in 1 Timothy 3:16 about Jesus – “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” Certainly He would not be a properly qualified Mediator if He did not unite both divine and human natures in His Person, and thereby bring men into an alliance with God.

According to the apostle Paul, Jesus is God who became man to be our divine Mediator. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, he wrote: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” In 1 Timothy 2:5, he further declared, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. Without Christ, we are alienated from God; but through Christ, we are now reconciled to God. Everyone who trusts Jesus can now call Him “Immanuel”.