Immanuel:
God With Us
The
promise that God came to earth to visit with fleshly mankind is one of the
foundational truths that the Bible presents to help us understand the nature
and person of the Messiah.
In
the lesson for today, we will be looking at the earthly coming of God, in the
person of the Messiah, as King and Savior of His people.
THE
SCRIPTURES:
Isa 7:14
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.
Isa 9:6
6) For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Matt 1:19-25
19) Then Joseph her husband,
being a just [man], and not willing
to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20) But while he thought on these things, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of
David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost.
21) And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22) Now all this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23) Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, God with us.
24) Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the
angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25) And knew her not till she had brought forth her
firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
John 1:1-2, 14
1) In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2) The same was in the beginning with God.
14) 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.
1Tim 3:16
16) 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.
THE
STUDY:
The
divinity of the Messiah is a doctrinal companion to the teaching of the virgin
birth of the Messiah. In what way are they “companion doctrines”?
1.
The doctrine of the Deity of the Messiah reveals to us the “person” of the
Messiah, God Himself. The doctrine of
the virgin birth explains to us the “process” used by God to come to the earth
as the Messiah.
2.
Just as the doctrine of the Deity of the Messiah reveals that the Messiah was
truly God, the doctrine of the virgin birth of the Messiah shows to us that the
Messiah is truly man.
Together,
these two doctrines make up two of the most controversial doctrines of the
Bible. Although controversial, these two
are of utmost importance. They are of
extreme significance because, to be believers in the Biblical Messiah, these
doctrines must be accepted by faith as a part of the salvation experience.
THE
PROPHECY:
Isaiah 7:14
In Isa 7:14, we find the deity of the Messiah is clearly
presented alongside the promise of the virgin birth, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” We find in
the New Testament that the title “Immanuel” means “God with us”, distinctly
proclaiming the deity of the coming Messiah.
Isa 9:6
In Isaiah 9:6, we find two obvious claims of the
deity of the Messiah within a list of the titles that used to describe Him… “…his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace.” Here the
Messiah is given both the divine title of “The mighty God” and also the divine
title “The everlasting Father”.
THE
FULFILLMENT:
Matthew 1:19-25
Much like in our previous studies, we find that
Jesus is clearly said to be the fulfillment of this promise of the Messiah. In
Matt 1:19-25, as a part of the message delivered by the angel to Jesus’ legal
father, Joseph, we find both the virgin birth and the deity of Christ declared…
“ And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: … Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be
with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us.”
John 1:1-2, 14
The Apostle John in his epistle presents the truth
of the deity of Christ (the Word), in the context of His physical birth in John 1:1-2, 14. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. 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.” Why was
Christ given the title of “The Word”?
Just as our Words are an expression and revelation of our thoughts…. So
too, the life of Christ, as God Himself, is the living expression and
revelation of God to mankind.
1Tim 3:16
Paul, in his letter to Timothy gives to us an
undeniable (“without controversy”) description of Christ in 1 Tim 3:16. “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.” In this description, Paul
designates the Deity of Jesus as “the mystery of Godliness”. In other words, the Deity of Christ is beyond
our human understanding and, yet, cannot be contested. He goes further and
states that Jesus is “God manifest in the flesh”. A restatement of this idea would be Jesus is
“God is uncovered for all to see, as Jesus lived in a fleshly body”. Paul
undoubtedly understood that Jesus was the promised Messiah, God come to the
earth in the flesh.
PRACTICAL
APPLICATION:
What a wonderful blessing it is to come to acceptance of
the Deity of Jesus, the promised Messiah.
Although this teaching is beyond our human understanding, based upon its
clear presentation in Scripture, we can rest our faith on this truth. May we all come to acceptance of this truth
and recognize our need to place our faith in the promised Messiah, the Lord
Jesus.
May the Lord bless our study of His Word.
If you have any questions about salvation you are
welcome to email me at settledinheaven@gmail.com. I’ll be more than happy to answer any
question you may have.
Also, if you look at my blog page “How To Have A
Relationship With God”. On this page,
you will find several blog entries explaining the way of salvation and
important truths about salvation.
Please visit the “Settled In Heaven
Ministries” homepage –
My Main Blog “Settled In Heaven”
(updated twice weekly) – http://settledinheaven.wordpress.com
The following are other places you
can find “Settled In Heaven” blog (updated once per month):
To see this lesson taught on video
please go to my Video Blog at http://www.youtube.com/settledinheaven
If you have any questions concerning
this blog, or if you have a subject you would like discussed, please feel free
to email me at settledinheaven@gmail.com. I will answer all emails via my blog,
email, or both.
Take A Look At My Wife’s
Artistic/Scriptural Devotion Blog http://alivewithchristart.blogspot.com
Follow my Squidoo Instructional Lens
“Presenting God’s Grace” “The Solemn Obligation To Present the Doctrines of
Grace to the Lost and Saved Alike” http://www.squidoo.com/presenting-gods-grace
May the Lord bless your study of His
Word. Like God’s Word… may your soul’s
salvation and your life’s faithfulness be “Settled in Heaven.”
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