God - With - Us

One of the most outrageous prophecies of the Old Testament is in Isaiah 7:14 -- "All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).  Matthew claims in his gospel as he describes Mary, a young virgin, being made pregnant by the Holy Spirit, "All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet," then quotes Isaiah's words.  This amazing gift of God, that God would no longer be remote but would truly be with us humans, is something we celebrate (is that a good enough word?) every year during Advent. But it gets better!

What most people don't realize is that the Incarnation, as we call it -- the Word being made flesh (John 1:14) didn't end after Jesus was killed on the cross and then resurrected.  Jesus showed himself to the disciples, who thought he was some kind of spook, and said "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." (Luke 24:39).  And yes, the Greek says "flesh and bones."   Jesus still had his human body, just hyped up somehow (he still ate, Luke 24:41-43, but he could appear and disappear at will, verses 31 and 36).  

In Acts 1:1-9, he is shown ascending to heaven in the same body.  And in Acts 7:55-56, Stephen sees Jesus (note, Jesus, not "the Son of God" or "Christ") standing at the Father's right hand, and says "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man [showing Jesus' humanity] standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!"  The man, Jesus Christ, is still at the Father's right hand,  (1 Tim. 2:5) as our Mediator, and he prays for us as our High Priest: "Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf." (Heb 7:25).

Jesus himself -- Immanuel -- is right now at the right hand of God Almighty, perfectly representing you, speaking for you, praying for you.  He is, right now, still God in the flesh, God-With-Us, the only perfect mediator because he is both "us" and God.  Yes, still.  Yes, right now.  Yes, forever.

No matter what we are going through, he still knows just exactly how we feel -- fatigue and disappointment and worry and pain and betrayal and fear and every other human emotion -- because he went through it all.  He still has his scars.  He still knows our own personal pain.  And he has defeated all of it, forever!  He is our encourager through the presence of the Holy Spirit ("another Advocate like me" John 14:16).  And he will never leave us (Mat. 28:20) so we know we are never alone.

And it's not just "God-With-Us" -- it's God-with-you.  Yes, you.  He really loves you that much.  Really! And he always will.