God, with us?

The Gospel of Matthew begins the whirlwind of fulfilled prophecy in the form of Jesus Christ. The pages that lead up to this book are filled with expectation, sinful desires, longing for freedom, and God’s broken heart over mankind. They are mixed with struggles of sin and His Grace. His righteous judgement constantly collides with His mercy. It is too much for us to fathom because we are post-salvation. But in Matthew 1, the author gives us a glimpse of how amazing this God-man actually is. God’s judgement had to be satisfied, not because He’s evil, but because He is perfect. And the only way to satisfy His judgement was to send Himself.

The angel gives Joseph the name of this child which is not his own. This child that had been there at the beginning of the world (Genesis 1:26). “Call his name, Jesus...”  This name is the Greek for Joshua which means “The LORD saves”. And it is vital that this name is mentioned first for without His salvation we could not enjoy the next name of Jesus.

Immanuel, God with us. We know what this word is. We sing it at Christmas, it hangs on our walls in the form of paintings, it brings a sense of love and comfort. But without Jesus, God with US is too heavy to bear. We’ve lost the sense of awe at God’s perfection. This same God who is with us, is the God whose glory was too much for Moses to glance at.. This is the same God whose presence killed 70 people because they simply looked into the ark of the Lord. God... with us? That’s terrifying.

BUT, because we have this Salvation, because we have Jesus, God with us becomes heaven on earth. Jesus is the perfect mixture of salvation and justice. He is truth and grace. Let’s not forget how beautiful and terrifying Immanuel is. But let us also praise the Father for saving us from His unfathomable judgement through Jesus Christ.