God With Us

December 18, 2024

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” Matthew 1:23 ESV

Immanuel translates to "God with us."

So, who was the little baby in the manger we celebrate at Christmas?

Colossians 1:15 says, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (NLT).

When we wonder what God is like, we need to look only to Jesus.

He was God Incarnate. That virgin-born baby was God in human form. He humbled Himself. He took the form of a servant. He identified Himself with the problems of the human race.

And thus it was that the Apostle John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14).

He was fully man, whose perfect human life helps us know God as our Father. His life shows us who God is and how God wants us to live. People all around the world celebrate the little baby in the manger because that child is God, come to live with his people.

But Jesus didn’t come simply to live. He came to die for your sins so that you can spend eternity with God.

Jesus Himself said, speaking just before His death, “For this cause was I born” (John 18:37).

The Good News of Christmas is that God sent Jesus to seek and save the lost. The Bible says, “There is only one God, and Christ Jesus is the only one who can bring us to God. Jesus was truly human, and he gave himself to rescue all of us” (1 Timothy 2:5 CEV).