Immanuel (God with us)

The name or title, “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us,” was given by an angel of the Lord to the child that would be born to Mary and Joseph, her betrothed husband (Matthew 1:20-23).  The name signifies that the child who was named Jesus represented God in a very special way.  In the context of the New Testament, it means that this human baby was actually deity who had come from heaven and was deity in a human body.   The body of Jesus growing within Mary’s womb was generated by the Holy Spirit of God.  The amazing, stupendous truth was that Jesus was both God and man, two natures in one person.  John’s gospel describes the nature of Jesus:   

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)  

In the beginning of creation, “the Word already was.”  He was not originated.  There never was a time when he was not.  “The Word was with God” means that the Word had face to face, direct and personal relationship and communication with God the Father, Creator God.  “The Word was God” means that all that deity is, the Word is.  He is the creator of all things and nothing was created without him.   

Then John adds this incomprehensible truth: “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” (1:14).  The Word, who is eternal with God the Father, has from all eternity existed in perfect communion with God the Father.  He shares with God the Father all the attributes of deity.  He is deity with God the Father and the creator of everything.  He became a human being through the body of Mary and lived among us!  How can this be? This sounds like the strangest science fiction story ever imagined, yet it’s true.   

The New Testament reveals the triune personality of God.  This does not mean that there are three gods.  No, the Bible affirms that there is only one God.  Though hard to understand, it should be no surprise that God is bigger than man.  He exists in 3 persons while being truly one God.  The Word, also known as the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity, became flesh when he was conceived in the womb of Mary by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit.  He is the unique God-Man.  He is as much God as God the Father and as much human as you and me, except without sin.  Jesus was not created by God the Father.  Jesus is deity.   

John adds, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (1:18).  John, who here calls Jesus “God,” says that after his time on earth that he returned to the heavenly world to be with the Father, and that he has made God known perfectly.   “Immanuel,” is a perfect name or title for Jesus.  He was truly “God with us.”